Evelyn, Molly, Star-Racers, and Pastries
by Wonderland in Chains
Summary: Evelyn was just a simple mechanic, the adopted sister of Stan. But when he and Koji are called upon by the famous racing manager, Don Wei, of corse she can't just let her brother have all the fun! Seres of one shots, Eva/Evelyn girl/girl pairing. Be sure to read my first authors note! It'll explain!
1. Evelyn, Blue, Alwas and Pastries Part 1

A.N. Oban is my childhood. I rediscovered it about a week ago and got super happy and realized just how awesome it is once again. So I'll be writing one shots until I lose my muse. I don't feel like rewriting the entire story with Evelyn, but I looked and looked for a story with a female pairing and OC. Obviously I couldn't find one so I decided to write some one shots for myself. I myself am bisexual, just to clear up any confusion. So the pairing here will be Eva/my OC Evelyn. If there are any particulars scenes from the show anyone would like me to write with Evelyn, let me know. It might just happen! :) Enjoy!

Well, this one is going to be split in two parts, cause it's now 1 AM and I have to be up at 6. Next part should be up in a day or two.

"Huh?" Evelyn stalls mid stride with a box of tools in her hands as a person, a girl slightly younger than her, passes her in a matching mechanics outfit with her own box of supplies in tow. Evelyn can't help but stare after and ogle her.

"Hey, Evelyn, c'mon or you'll get left behind!" She registers her adoptive brother's, Stan's voice. "I'm gonna be mad if Koji and I got yelled at for nothing." He says jokingly.

"Oh, ha ha, you're so funny." She playfully punches his arm after setting her box in the back of the truck. "Like you'd be able to get any work done without me anyway."

"What are you talking about? You may be able to do the work beyond typical standard, but you goof off ninety percent of the time." Evelyn can't help but growl at his words.

"Miguel might have called you and Koji his right and left arms, but he called me his brains and kicker."

"Oh, the kicker part is accurate." Koji throws in, cringing slightly. Evelyn was certainly called that for a reason, and Koji as well as Stan had felt the broad side of her foot upon their delicate behinds more than once.

"Erm, Blue's in the back, right?" Stan sighs at Evelyn's tentative question.

"Ev, you know we can't bring her. I left her with mom." Tears instantly spring to Evelyn's eyes.

"STAN! You said it was my dog or art supplies, so I chose Blue! Now I have nothing!" Evelyn's voice slowly rises with hurt and slight panic.

"Calm down, little sis. I packed all your art stuff up for you while you were packing."

"Everyone into the trucks! We're late!" Ah, the lovely Mr. Wei. Evelyn can't help but cringe as the though of being glad to not be his family member flows across her mind.

As Stan turns to get into the truck, Evelyn delivers a well aimed kick. Right on his behind. Stan in turn goes flying a few feet and face plants. Evelyn laughs as Stan moans in pain. Koji looks on, terrified, keeping his back to the truck. Evelyn eyes Koji.

"C'mon, Koji. After you."

Koji just begins mumbling incoherently and scardly. "Er, no, Evelyn. That's okay. Lady's first."

As Evelyn pulls the door of the truck open, a big black furry body springs from underneath the truck and into the cab. With little more than a gasp, Evelyn calls the dogs name out happily.

"In! Everyone get in!" Mr. Wei calls frantically.

As the three of them pile in, the low content wolf/Alaskan Malamute cross yips like an excited puppy, frantically lapping at Evelyn's face, her one blue and one brown eye sparkling with happiness.

"How in the world did she get here?" Stan asks, more than a little surprised at seeing his adopted sister's loyal pet.

"The only thing I can possibly think of is Amy either dropped her off, or Blue jumped out of the car behind you when Amy dropped you off." Evelyn says happily, running her fingers through the dogs plush, soft fur.

Evelyn pays no attention to the speed they're traveling at in favor of rubbing at her precious partner in crime. She does however glance up to the front passenger seat, where the gunner boy, Jordan Wilde resides and she raises an eyebrow as he squawks in the front seat, about what she didn't know and didn't care. She didn't have a good enough read on him yet to fully say she liked him or not, but he would certainly have to earn her respect and trust before she'd let him do something she didn't much agree with.

Evelyn suddenly feels a gentle elbow in her side and looks up to Stan and Koji, who are giving her the biggest shit eating grins she'd ever seen them wear. "So, I seen you eyeing that pretty girl mechanic. Does my little sis have a crush...?" Stan teases lightly.

"Can't you both stop acting like I'm a full out lesbian?!" Evelyn hisses at them.

"B-but I thought you were!" Koji stutters out.

"Erm, _no_ **,** I'm bi. Thanks there, Koji." Evelyn rolls her grey eyes and tucks a loose strand of chocolate colored mid back length wavy hair behind her ear. As Koji begins stuttering apologies, Evelyn assures him he won't be receiving a well aimed and maybe even well deserved kick in the rear, much to his relief.

Evelyn snaps back into focus as a huge ship and bright beam of light becomes visible as the day begins to break over the horizon. She is completely awestruck at its glory. Even as they race past corn and wheat fields that she had been paying no attention to in favor of ignoring it all to ease her growing sense of dread, she still feels it full force. Even as they're sucked up into the bright beam of light while Don Wei pleads with Rick to hurry.

They're being pulled up into the ship, _without their star racers and pilot._

Evelyn panics, frantically turning this way and that to try to see out the windows to try and spot Rick and the semi. She breaths a sigh of relief when she sees Rick drive the truck and racers under the beam as well and begin pulling them up.

Once the ship closes, everyone cautiously steps out of their respective trucks.

"Some fancy spaceship, huh?" Jordan says sarcastically. Evelyn rolls her eyes as her boots hit whatever it was the floor of the ship was made of. Stone maybe? Blue's claws click the floor as she lands beside Evelyn, and she peers up curiously.

"Well," she starts. "Nothing to do until we get there."

"Any news of how long this is gonna take, Don?" Rick questions.

"I haven't a clue." Said man replies.

"Well, it's at least 25,000 light years away, right?" Koji asks rhetorically. "It all depends on how fast the ship is traveling. It could take as little as 12 hours to as much as 25,000 years.

"I doubt it'll take that long, Koji." Evelyn sighs out.

"Well, at least the 25,000 years." Stan clarifies.

"If it really is only 12 hours, that's just enough time to catch some shut eye before we glitch down." Jordan puts in.

"So, which planet is it we're going to?" Evelyn questions Don.

"I'm not entirely sure, young lady." Don answers simply.

 _So helpful..._ Evelyn thinks to herself and looks down at her feet.

Evelyn listens as her little rag tag group discusses different matters. Food and sleep were the only things on her agenda, but the only food she knew of was the bags of chips and pastries she'd smuggled into her duffle bags. And she was **not** sharing. Not. N. O. T. Especially her soda and coffee. Normally she couldn't stand instance coffee, but this occasion called for it, she supposed.

"C'mon, Blue." Evelyn calls quietly as she moves around to the back of the truck. She pulls the back gate open and quickly finds her light blue and green duffle bags. Everyone's was color coded to prevent mistakenly taking someone else's bags. She pulls one over and open with a piece of tape attached to it dubbing it 'Cloths and Blankets.' If she recalled correctly, she had three of them marked the exact same out of five, now seven as two more full of art supplies were added. One of the other two contained her hoard of snacks and drinks wrapped in a blanket to minimize sound, and the last contained more snacks and toiletries. Blankets easily consisted of fifty percent or more of her packed supplies. Even she had to admit she is a blanket hoarder.

She pulls out a pajama shirt two sizes too big with a skull and crossbones on the front and plaid pajama pants that went down to her ankles. "I'm not sleeping in this jump suit. C'mon Blue." Evelyn's hand ghosts over Blue's leather spiked collar and Blue fallows.

Evelyn walks around to the other side of the star racers away from the boys and strips herself of her shirt and bra. As she bends down to pick up her clean shirt, she notices Blue staring at the top of the star racers with her ears perked high. "What's wrong, Blue? Ya hear something?" Evelyn runs her hands over over Blue's ears, causing the dog to glance at her. Yet she remains true and continues to stare at the racers, her ears perked and tail curled over her back.

Evelyn fallows Blue's gaze as she pulls her cloths on, yet doesn't see or hear anything. Blue tilts her head from left to right, almost curiously. "C'mon good girl, let's go get us some blankets. I'll take a look at the racers before Rick flies." Even as Evelyn walks back around the racers, she can't help but watch the rims of them. She shrugs it off when she sees nothing, and u zips her bag again, placing the worn cloths in and pulling three blankets out. One a black and blue down comforter, one her favorite fluffy blanket with a wolfs face on it, and the last a warmer than it looks fan cotton blanket with cave drawing like patterns on it. She throws the last to Stan and Koji, who take it with smiles and thanks.

"Got another in there I could use?" Jordan asked hopefully.

"Erm... It kills me ta tell ya no, cause I truly am a people pleaser despite my complete hatred of them, but no. Family only." Evelyn says carefully and Jordan just groans.

"That's cold, little cat." Rick chuckles warmly.

"Little cat...?" Evelyn whispers to herself in confusion, tilting her head slightly to the side, something she obviously picked up from Blue.

Deciding to ignore Rick's antics, she pulls her red panda stuffed animal from her bag, zips it up, picks up her blankets and moves to lay closer to the star racers, away from everyone.

Who ever said you were too old for stuffed animals?

Laying her comforter down as a makeshift mattress, she wraps herself up comfortably, balling the end of the blanket up to make a makeshift pillow. "Want under?" Evelyn asks Blue quietly, lifting the blanket to expose her torso in invitation.

Blue simply wraps herself around Evelyn's back on top of the blanket and lays her head on Evelyn's rib cage. Evelyn in turn wraps herself back up, hugging the red panda to her chest.

TBC In part 2


	2. Evelyn, Blue, Alwas and Pastries Part 2

Part 2

"I-I'm sorry, I must've fallen asleep."

Evelyn bolts upright at the feminine voice, no more than a little squeak. She throws the blankets from around her, and shudders at the sudden chill.

Shooting to her feet, she quickly finds the source.

Don Wei is on top of the star racers. With a flashlight. Pointing the annoying beam of light right at the mechanic girl. Poor thing is still in that awful jumpsuit.

Evelyn stands up a little straighter, taking in the sight of the girl's bright red hair, the underneath part obviously black. Evelyn had seen the type of style before. People layered their hair thick when they got it cut and dyed each layer a different color, like a rainbow. It wasn't the same, but something similar. Weather that's her natural color or dyed, Evelyn could only guess at. At this distance she couldn't see much. Damn her near-sightedness. But that was the beauty of modern hair-dye. You didn't have to bleach your hair out like people did fifty years ago to acquire the correct color, and it faded extremely slowly.

Evelyn glances around as Stan, Koji, Rick and Jordan all gather around to get a good look at the stowaway.

"Oh, it's _her_ again." At Jordan's words, Evelyn promises herself to give him a good kick later.

Evelyn can't help but feel sorry for the poor girl, watching her stutter and obviously intimidated under Don Wei's scrutinizing gaze.

The ship suddenly begins shaking violently, and Evelyn struggles to keep her balance. Until something heavy falls right on top of her and her head smacks the stone and her right arm accidentally hits Blue upside Evelyn doesn't know where.

Evelyn just lays there, dazed as the ship ceases moving.

"Watch your step, little mouse." Evelyn hears Rick say and assumes it's him that's pulling the weight from on top of her. Blue is instantly in her face, licking and rubbing her neck all over Evelyn's face to try and make sure she's okay.

"Nah... Blue...Stahp." Evelyn sluggishly lifts her arm and digs her fingers into Blue's scruff.

"Oh, I'm so sorry! Are you ok-" Evelyn hears a feminine yelp and hearty chuckle. She looks over just in time to see Blue tackle the girl out from behind Rick and they both go down with a crash. Though Blue starts murdering her with kisses and love rather than ripping her throat out, little content whines resonating from the canine's throat. The girl's terror is almost instantly forgotten and she begins laughing lightly, much to Evelyn's delight.

Evelyn sits up slowly, a smile slowly building on her face. "A'ite Blue, enough!" With one final lick, Blue jumps happily back over to Evelyn.

"We're here. Let's go see where we're at." Don Wei says sternly, giving a dangerous looking glare to the poor stowaway, at which she cowers.

They all move toward what seems to be the door that is opening up. Evelyn looks wide eyed in awe at the splendor of the planet. All the hustle and bustle of the other worldly people and naturally bright lush planet.

Blue rushes past Evelyn and an elderly looking alien and onto the grass, instantly squatting to relieve herself of her full bladder. Evelyn turns her attention to the elderly looking creature in front of them along with the rest of them.

"Greetings, people of the planet Earth! Welcome to planet Alwas, where one part of the pre-selections are to be held to decide who moves on to the final race on planet Oban! I am Satis. I will be your guide for the duration of your stay." Satis gives them a wide, wrinkled smile.

Evelyn looks at him strangely, and Satis in turn hums and cocks his head to the side curiously. Stan, recognizing the look, groans and face palms.

Out of no where Evelyn scoops up the odd little alien in her arms and begins spinning around. "You're so cute!" She squeals in delight.

"Evelyn! Put him down! Now!" Don Wei. Of corse. Killjoy.

Evelyn pouts at him openly. "Killjoy!" She gently sets the poor, startled alien down on solid ground. She inwardly dances at the girl's wide grin. "Sorry, Satis." Evelyn apologizes wholeheartedly.

"That's quite alright, young one. You humans are such interesting creatures." Satis thoughtfully strokes his long beard. "Well, let's get a move on! We have to get you moved into the Earth Team pit! All your luggage and supplies can go in this here wagon and the rest of us can ride the formal wagon to the pit. Your pilot can move your racers into your pit." Satis waves his cane around dramatically as he walks into the ship they'd just departed from. Evelyn jumps slightly at the sight of the carts. They're WORM looking creatures hooked up to the carts. WORMS! Evelyn shudders at the size of them, and more than a little disturbed she hurried back into the ship.

Upon deciding that Rick would be the one to drive the truck with the Racers and fallow behind them, the rest of them set to unloading their bags and supplies. All equipment went on the bottom of the cart and everyone's luggage on top. Evelyn kept her four "fragile" bags on her shoulders. Despite how the weight was killing her and felt like it was crushing her spine down, she didn't trust anyone with what she considered her delicate things. She could certainly support the weight for at least a little while to ensure nothing got broken, or worse, her goodies were discovered.

When it came time to depart from the ship, Evelyn fell silently in step beside the girl.

"Aye, no. You're riding back there, stowaway." Don Wei growls at the poor girl, pointing at the cart full of luggage as she and Evelyn attempted to climb Into the wagon after the boys. "And the dog, too."

"'And the dog, too!' He says." Evelyn imitates a high pitched annoying voice, and pointedly gives him the middle finger. Don Wei scoffs, and anyone could see the anger building on his face. Evelyn just walks back to the luggage cart, Blue and the girl who she'd yet to learn the name of on either side of her.

After the red head jumps in, Evelyn throws her bags in one by one, then jumps in herself. The cart begins moving before Blue even has a chance to jump in. "C'mon, Blue! Hup!" Blue expertly jumps in at her owner's command and finds a comfortable spot to lay and watch the passing crowd.

Evelyn squeezes in next to the adorable girl, who looks as if she's brooding. "Well, I'm Evelyn." Evelyn sticks her hand out, catching the girl's attention.

"Ev- ahm, Molly." Molly clasps Evelyn's hand in hers in a loose handshake.

"If you didn't have to sit back here, why would you?" Molly asks quietly, shyly.

"I don't go anywhere without Blue. Mr. Sunshine there can stick it up his ass if he thinks I'd put my dog back here by herself." Molly just hums quietly. "What you've done to yourself really suits you." Evelyn complements.

"Huh?" Molly looks startled.

"What you've got going on there. It suits you. Your piercings, hair and correct me if I'm wrong, but those are tattoos on your cheeks, right? They're gorgeous." Evelyn knew she'd seen them from somewhere before, but she couldn't recall where. The tattoos upon Molly's cheeks are light and even, almost like an even tone light tan mole or birth mark.

"Yeah, they're tattoos..." Molly's voice breaks in embarrassment, her right hand ghosting over her right cheek and Evelyn smirks at the light pink dusting her cheeks.

"So, stowaway, huh? Any particular reasons?" Molly looks down at Evelyn's question.

Evelyn notices Molly glance up at the cart containing the other members of their little patchwork group. "Erm... Just thought you could use an extra mechanic, is all..."

Evelyn takes a moment to observe Molly. "I hope you'll trust me enough one day soon to tell me your real motive," Molly looks up at Evelyn, startled. "But todaaaaay..." Evelyn pulls up one of her bags and sifts through it. "I've got a little something that I hope cheers you up a little, Love." Evelyn smirks at the light pink dusting Molly's pale cheeks once again. "But you've got to promise to keep it a complete secret." Evelyn eyes Molly seriously, and she nods her promise quickly. "My secret stash and must have hoard." She whips out a package of chocolate Hostess cupcakes. They've got to be the best if they've been around for as long as they have, right?

"Oh, sweet!" Molly grins widely.

"Us ladies gotta have our goodies. Especially me." Evelyn laughs as she mockingly pats at her slightly chubby belly. It's only at this point she realizes she's still in her pajamas and completely barefoot. She hands the package of two to Molly, grinning wide.

"You don't want one?" Molly asks curiously.

"Love, you look half starved and I've got hoards of them. Trust me, I'm not gonna miss it and I certainly don't need it." Evelyn dismissively waves it off. "But you can't tell anyone or they really will be gone within a day."

"Thank you." Molly grins widely and delicately pulls the package open. Evelyn grins even wider in return.


	3. Looking Over the Arrow

Evelyn couldn't help but roll her eyes.

"See how she feels, Jordan." Stan called as he looked over the inner workings of the Arrow.

"Yeah!" Jordan is overly excited by this, and locks onto his target after spinning his little gun ball around. And it's Molly's scowling face. Evelyn can feel a glare reach her eyes.

"Enough, asshole! Try out the other side!" She snaps, and turns her attention to looking over Stan and Koji's shoulders, ensuring she doesn't see a problem that they missed.

Jordan just groans and hits the keys to switch his compartment to the other side. "She looks good Jordan." Stan announces, and closes up the trap door for the outter wiring, after ensuring Evelyn approved that everything looked good. Jordan exits the gunner's trap and before he can get a word out, she kicks him as hard as she can you already know where.

"That's for earlier and right now! You jerk!" She announces as he face plants.

"We did lose a liter of fluid though. And with our limited supplies it would take weeks to make more." Koji says as he clicks on his little computer.

"Will the Arrow be able to fly?" Wei asks, only concerned with the race. Typical.

"It should be good for at least one race." Koji reassures.

"Hey, I seen a shop on the way here! I can go get the fluid for you. After all, it is a pretty common thing." Molly scurries over to her rocket seat, overly excited to be able to help.

"Molly, that won't be necessary. We don't even race until later today." Evelyn kicks Jordan over again as he attempts to get up. "I'll go with you a little later."

"Nah, I want to go get it!" Molly starts up her seat and zooms off as Koji hits the controls to crawl the Arrow back into the hanger.

"Don, you sneaky bastard. You brought along a replacement pilot, didn't you?" Rick comes up beside their momentary boss, and Evelyn can't help but watch Molly as she drives off. She gasps as a vehicle of some kind almost hits the younger girl, and she disappears. Evelyn panics, about to run to her aid until the truck of some sorts passes and Molly is safe and sound, though a little shaken up, on the other side. All three of them sigh in relief.

"You know very well how I feel about female pilots. And she's just a stow away. She will not be flying the Arrow. You're the pilot." Wei walks away with his arms crossed and Evelyn is sure his nose is in the air.

"Still, she's got a little something." Evelyn nods at Ricks words and gives a small smile.

"Yo, anyone up for goin to see the first race?" Evelyn calls out happily.

 **Jordan was due his asskicking. Pretty much the only reason for this. When Molly/Eva says Aikka is cute though, Evelyn agrees with her, if anyone was wondering. I feel like the next one will probably be after the accident when they try to make Jordan fly the Arrow. Oh the stuff that is gonna happen. *mad laughter***


	4. Racing Defiance

"Rick's fine, but... He's going to be out of commission for at least a week." Wei looked truly stricken and worried. The rest of the little rag tag group had varying degrees of hopelessness, shock and worry upon their faces.

"But what about the rematch? Whose going to fly?" Molly looked truly saddened.

Wei turned his attentions on Stan and Koji, a look forming on his face. "Stan, Koji," Wei begins with a forced friendly smile upon his lips and a sweet tone adapted into his usually harsh voice.

"Oh, no, sir. We're just mechanics, not pilots." Stan says, his hands risen in defeat. "Sorry, sir, but we can't pilot the Arrow, only fix it." Koji throws in, a scared, nervous smile on his lips.

"I can pilot it!" Molly seems to perk up, and Evelyn looks sideways at the pretty redhead. Wei seems determined to ignore the poor girl, though and turns his attentions to Jordan this time.

"Jordan, my boy! How would you like to pilot the the Whizzing Arrow 2 for today's race?" Wei says care freely.

"Um, sir? I really don't think that's a good idea..." Jordan rubs the back of his head nervously.

"Hello! I'm right here! I can pilot it!" Molly seems to slowly become more irritated.

"Sure it is! Stan, Koji, set him up in the controls and let's do a test run!" Wei orders.

"Um... Sir? I'm just a gunner, I break things, that's about it..." Jordan mumbles weakly. Wei obviously isn't listening as he walks back into the hanger and Stan and Koji begin readying the controls. Evelyn runs her fingers over Blue's head, watching as Molly silently seethes.

Soon enough, Jordan is in the pilot's seat and Stan and Koji are going over the controls with him. Evelyn stands beside Molly with Blue at her side in favor of helping the boys, she'd yet to say anything regarding the situation.

"Alright, Jordan! It's the button on the side to your right! Activate the thrusters!" Koji calls to the nervous gunner. After a few seconds the thrusters come online and the Arrow begins hovering in the air.

"Now try to fly forward!" Stan puts in, and the star racer shakily darts forward.

"He'd better not crash my racer!" Evelyn calls angrily at the terrible flying.

"Your racer? I think not, young lady!" Wei says and Evelyn pointedly looks at him.

"I have to work on it! Therefore it's mine!" She screeches back as Jordan narrowly misses the chute to the track. Stan and Koji can't help but snicker at their little sister's antics. It has always been that way, and they knew it well.

Everyone begins panicking as Jordan began spinning the Arrow around, unintentionally in circles. Up, down, up, down in the air.

Jordan screams frantically. "Get me outta here!" He screams again as the racer darts higher into the air. Stan is yelling out commands and how to set the racer down but Jordan obviously isn't listening or he isn't comprehending what Stan is saying. Jordan starts spinning the racer around and around and twirls it higher into the air, swooping toward the ground.

Evelyn and Molly gasp, wide eyed as the racer starts hurtling right at them and they run for it with Blue right on their heels. Evelyn trips and brings Molly down with her, the racer crashing into the ground roughly right over them, stopping when the left reactor roughly collides with the side of the metal hanger.

Everyone seems dazed at what just happened as Jordan shakily exits the Arrow and happily collapses onto solid ground.

"What the _Hell_ was that?!" Evelyn screeches angrily as she stands and offers her hand to Molly, pulling the slightly taller girl up when she takes it. She dusts the grass and dirt from the front of her team outfit, the shirt and pants nearly identical to Molly's beside the shirt reaching to rest on her hips and her favorite black work boots on her feet. "When someone says they can't fly a star racer maybe you should listen to them! My racer almost got totaled!"

Wei just stared, and Evelyn couldn't tell if that meant he regretted his decision or something else.

"We should go to the board, maybe they'll offer us a reprieve." Stan says unsurely.

"Yeah, let's go to the board. We- we can't fly this race without Rick." Wei pinches the bridge of his nose.

"And you!" Evelyn stomps over to Jordan, whose still on the ground and now looking completely terrified at her approach. "I don't blame you." She offers out her hand and after much hesitation, he grasps it and she pulls him up. "How can I? It wasn't like you jumped at the idea."

"Uh, thanks... I guess." Jordan smiles at her weakly. "That had to be the scariest moment of my life. I nearly died!" He throws his hands up dramatically.

"I wouldn't go that far, gunner boy." Evelyn shakes her head, a small smile gracing her lips.

"I _told_ you all I only break things! That's why I'm good at my job!" Jordan says as he follows the other three men to try and obtain a reprieve until they had their pilot back again.

"Evelyn, get the racer back in the hanger and look over it, please." Koji calls.

"I don't think they're gonna get that reprieve." Evelyn mutters. Evelyn looks to Molly, who's stroking Blue and looking glumly at the racer.

"I know I can fly it! Why does he have to be such a jerk?" Molly vents, her fingers catching as they scrape angrily at Blue's lush coat. The dog takes no notice, only seeming to enjoy the rough petting more and she laps at Molly's hands happily.

Evelyn sighs, and climbs into the racer. "Molly, the standard seat is too big for me, will you come work the pedals so I can get the racer in the hanger and fixed?" She calls over the side.

Molly just nods, and climbs into the racer behind Evelyn. Using her hands, Molly works the pedals as Evelyn instructs while she works the controls and together they crawl the racer into the hanger.

Evelyn exits the cockpit and begins looking the left reactor over. She opens up every panel, checks every wire and using Koji's computer, runs a diagnostic. Everything comes back normal, beside the few lose wires Evelyn had already fixed. Beside the protective metal sheath covering the reactor being dented and banged up, no major damage was done. "Molly?" Evelyn calls once everything is back in its proper place and she notices Blue laying by herself in the sun.

"Up here. Are you with or against me?" Molly peeks her head over the racer and Evelyn cocks an eyebrow questioningly, despite the adorableness of the action.

"I'm with you, but what are you up to, Love?" Evelyn climbs back up into the racer.

"I'm gonna fly it, but the standard seat is too big. What if we attached my rocket seat to the steering column?" Molly looks at Evelyn hopefully and with a twinkle in her eye. How could Evelyn possibly say no to that face?

"Well, thing is, Love, that's a fantastic idea and all, but your seat is way too simple for the Arrow's advanced steering, motors and technology. It wouldn't work correctly and you'll be wobbling all over the track the entire race." Molly's face instantly falls. "Hey, don't look so glum. I never said I couldn't _make_ it work." Evelyn winks at her and Molly's resulting grin goes from ear to ear.

In no time, Evelyn and Molly have the standard seat disconnected from the steering column and out of the racer and Molly's rocket seat in.

"We've got to hurry and get this done before they get back or they're gonna stop us." Evelyn says as she tightens the last bolt on the seat down and connects Koji's computer to the mainframe to begin installing upgrades. Once the upgrades are complete she looks over to Molly, and gives her a serious look. "You need to activate both boosters on your rocket seat when you're flying and that should give you more stability. This is all I can do for now. Later I'll install better upgrades and the like, make it more reliable." She stands and grins down at Molly. "Ready, Tiny Dancer?"

"As I'll ever be." Molly reciprocates her grin.

Suddenly three clipped, loud, vicious, and snarled barks are heard from the malamute cross, then they cut off. "Looks like they woke Blue up without warning. Get a move on, sweetheart." Evelyn climbs out of the racer, and quietly sneaks over to the work bench to replace Koji's computer where she found it. She then goes to greet the rest of the team. What she sees shocks her.

Don Wei. In a scarf and helmet. Going off about not getting the reprieve and having no choice but to pilot the racer himself.

"Sir, this really isn't a good idea. Why don't you just let Evelyn or Molly pilot the Arrow?" Koji pleads.

"You're old and have had no prior instruction or training, it'd be a disaster!" Stan tries to reason with the old racing manager.

"I have no choice." Don says with a tone of finality. Jordan just stands there at a loss for words.

"They should have given us that reprieve!" Jordan sounds exasperated. "How do they expect us to go to a rematch without a pilot?!" Evelyn grins as the Whizzing Arrow's engines power up and it begins hovering.

"The hell?!" Every one of them look shocked.

"Young lady put that racer down this instant!" Wei orders after finally figuring out who is in the pilot's seat. Molly just slowly moves the racer forward. "Are you listening to me, Molly?!"

"Molly!" Stan and Jordan yell.

"Set it down!" Koji's soft voice is lost in the roar of the engines.

"Do you hear me?! Set it down!" Wei is furious at this point. "Wilde! Stop her! Now!"

"O-okay, sir." Looking startled at being told to stop a sixteen year old girl in the pilot's seat of a _star racer,_ Jordan ignores his mind's call of 'Don't do it!' in favor of running up the stairs of the catwalk, running to the other side and _jumping onto the racer_ , his face plastering against the glass and Molly squeaks in shock.

"Molly! Set the racer down!"

"No, Jordan! This is the only chance we've got! Are you with me?" Molly's short but passionate speech seems to win the gunner boy over, and at his nod, he climbs into the cockpit and down to his station. With Evelyn cheering them on, Molly is able to wobbly get the racer into the chute, and they're off to the race.

"What?" She asks as the remaining three men stare at her, two confused and one lit beyond being angry.

"You put it into her head and HELPED her figure out how to fly that racer?!" Wei screeches.

"Hey, don't blame me! She asked me for my help and I helped her! She thought of it on her own and she would have did it herself even if I hadn't helped! She's a gifted mechanic, and it looks like a pilot as well." Evelyn crosses her arms, refusing to be guilt tripped by this asshole. "Well, are we gonna get to the control room or is Molly on her own for this race?"

After they settle into their little temporary control room, and Wei had settled into his 'this-is-a-race-so-no-funny-buissness' persona and the tin can and Molly were gearing up to go, Evelyn sat by Stan with her own earpiece, ready to give orders.

As the final stone drops, the racers shoot off. "Watch it, Molly. You're doing great, but he's gonna give you quite a beating if you can't shake him." Evelyn says through her earpiece after a bit in addition to Wei's weird style of calm advice and yelling when the race is really beginning to get heated. Molly is doing surprisingly well, she's even able to keep the ship relatively straight and hardly bumps the walls. She has some true talent, no one can deny it. Rick was right, she does have that little something.

Jordan was actually doing quite good at attempting to gun the tin can's ship down, even Evelyn had to admit, even if it wasn't working very well. He was keeping his panic and screaming down to a minimum, though.

Molly nods at her image on the HUD of the racer and turns her attention back to attempting to dodge the joker's ship. Then Stan turns to Evelyn with an almost blank look on his face.

"You _grafted_ a rocket seat to the steering column?! Do you know how stupid that is?!"

"Chill, dude. I did the proper upgrades and already told her how to steady the ship. She's doing great, isn't she?"

...

...

...

"I spoke too soon, didn't I?" Evelyn says as the hyper drives were engaged.

"Sir! The hyper drives have been engaged!" Koji reports to Wei. "At this point she's going to run out of fuel way before she even reaches the finish line!"

Evelyn ignores Wei's yelling and instantly begins speaking into her headset. "Molly, you need to disengage the hyperdrives. You're gonna run out of fuel if you don't." Molly didn't seem to be listening, though.

"Can't disengage yet, sir," Molly begins. "We have to put distance between us or he'll win the race."

Evelyn buries her face in Blue's neck, hugging the dog to her. "I can't watch. Tell me when it's over, Blue." The dog just licks at her the best she can.

Evelyn dares to peek out once the commotion dies down. They ran out of fuel alright, they're stranded on the beach a few hundred meters from the finish line. But the tin can's ship is down as well, smoking and obviously out of commission. Jordan did his job damn great if Evelyn had anything to say about it. Evelyn jumps up and cheers. "Yeah! You guys did it! Great shooting there, Jordan!"

Jordan looks smug. "Oh, why thank you. I try, I try."

Molly smiles on the screen. "We haven't reached the finish line quite yet. Don't celebrate so soon."

"Wise words of wisdom, my friend." Evelyn smiles even wider.

Evelyn cheers again as the Arrow finally crosses the finish line some twenty minutes later. The crowd was obviously confused and disgruntled at the long wait, but cheered for the Earth Team nonetheless.

"That race was an embarrassment! We'll be the laughing stock of the competition now!" Wei is obviously pissed, but when isn't he? Honestly?

"Hey, fool. A victory is a victory, it doesn't matter how it was accomplished." Evelyn snaps at him. "I'm gonna go refuel the ship." She walks out with her hands behind her head in a casual manner with Blue at her side. After quickly grabbing a liter of fluid, Evelyn begins briskly walking down toward the track, Blue frolicking and exploring the path off-leash as they go. She hurries down the steps, taking them two at a time. The spectators have left for the most part, just the star racer and Molly and Jordan were waiting in the little arena like area. Molly waves happily as she spots Evelyn coming down the steps and upon seeing her, Blue takes off at full speed, jumping over the low wall and right to Molly, jumping up on her in greeting. Molly simply hugs the big black dog and pets her after pushing her down.

"That was some great racing there, Tiny Dancer." Evelyn smiles wide and high fives the accomplished new pilot.

"Well, I wouldn't have called it fantastic..." Jordan laughs nervously at Evelyn's dangerous look.

"I'm gonna refuel the ship so you guys can fly it back for a once over. Don't be doing anything stupid or going on a detour for a stroll, this is only enough to get you back to the pit." Evelyn informs as she walks around the ship to the fuel cap.

 **Have you ever wondered how they got the racer back to the pit when they ran out of fuel or demolished it? Obviously there is gonna be someone that will clear the demolished ships from the track, but certainly not one out of fuel unless it's directly interfering with the next race. So I think Stan or Koji had to go refuel the ship to get it back to the pit and had to go fix it as well when Aikka shot them down. Just my opinion. Haven't got anything specific for the next one shot. We might skip ahead in time a bit. I don't know about you, but I'm read for a kiss or two!**


	5. High Above the Ground Part 1

**I'm positive the theme song for these shorts is High Above the Ground by Daughtry. It's so freakin perfect! Favorite short right here. Bit long, but adorable at the end.**

 **I've repeatedly forgot to do this so I'll do it now and it counts for everything I write concerning this series of shorts. I do not own Oban Star Racers in any way. Only Evelyn and Blue and their crazy antics.**

Evelyn watches from the top of the stairs as Wei knocks on Molly's door. Poor thing is determined to stay in her room after the team betrayed them during Aikka's race. Insensitive bastards, they are. Evelyn had been there when Aikka and Molly had made the deal, she of course fully supported it. Evelyn had tried to gun for Molly that race, but Wei didn't buy it and Jordan didn't let her, forcefully dragging her out of the pod and making Stan hold her so she wouldn't jump back on board. Molly had no choice but to go to the race so she wasn't late. After Molly locked Jordan in the racer to prevent him from shooting, Evelyn knew the only way to get him out was if Stan and Koji could get him out by breaching the Arrow's security systems, which were some of the best Earth had to offer, and cutting Molly's access to the command. It would take even a master hacker like Koji a while to break through the defenses. Evelyn was doing everything in her power to slow the process down, from blocking their access from her work computer, to straight tackling her brothers out of their seats. Stan had to forcefully lock her in her room on Wei's request. She hadn't delayed the process long enough, though. They broke Jordan free ten seconds before the race was at its end and Jordan shot at Aikka. They were of corse just as mad at her and it was Molly that heard her banging on her door when she got back and let her out.

She had decided to leave the boys working on the Arrow and cheer the poor redhead up, but Wei beat her to the door first. So Evelyn took up her post on the stairs, pretending to take no notice of Wei.

"Molly, it would be a great time to come have a talk with me." Wei tries for the third time. Evelyn believed he only needed to talk with her as it was now the beginning of the playoffs. Only six teams remained, and they had already raced the Crogs (which Evelyn had gone completely insane with worry when Toros demolished the Arrow) and Super Racer. They'd been here for seven weeks already? Wow, certainly didn't seem like that long. It'd be another two before the race moved to Oban, whoever made it that far. Evelyn certainly hoped they made it there.

"Now is a good time to stay in my room!" Evelyn can hear her yell back in defiance.

Wei's hands ball into fists, and he looks as if he's going to explode. "Fine then!" Wei yells, obviously exasperated. "Time for plan B then." Wei mumbles angrily as he passes Evelyn and heads down the stairs. Evelyn tilts her head curiously, but heads to Molly's door nonetheless.

Evelyn knocks lightly twice. "Go away already!" Molly screeches at her.

"Hey, Tiny Dancer, it's Evelyn. Can I come in?" Evelyn shivers as a memory she hadn't though of despite all the times she'd called Molly by the nickname hits her. Her dad had used the almost exact words on her when she was seven. Evelyn's dad had began calling her by the same, when he'd given her a little music box with a ballerina that span in it. Evelyn had only been four, and had asked him what the little spinning girl in the box was and what she was doing when Evelyn had opened it. "She's a tiny dancer, dancing her heart out." He'd explained. Evelyn had thought back to his words many times, though had never truly known what he meant when he looked at her when he called her that. The sadness that had shown through his eyes...

The door suddenly slides open, and Evelyn shakes her head lightly, focusing on Molly, whose still in her pajamas. Molly grabs her wrist and yanks her in, locking the door behind her. "I can't stand him! He's such a lousy person!" Molly rants as she sits back down on her bed and picks her notebook and pen up again.

Evelyn sighs. "We all know he is. He seems heartless half the time, anyway." Evelyn sits at Molly's feet and throws herself back on the bed. She then rummages through her coat pocket and pulls out a See's milk chocolate bar and two Cadbury cream eggs as she listens to the girl vent angrily. After unwrapping the chocolate and ripping the wrapper itself in half, she breaks the chocolate in half, and it's the popping sound of the chocolate breaking that seems to catch Molly's attention.

"Here ya go, Love. A little pick me up." Evelyn smiles happily. Molly gives her a small, grateful smile as she takes the half bar and egg into her hands. Evelyn had had every intention of giving them to her completely, but with thoughts of her past, she felt she needed some as well.

"Thanks, Evelyn. Just what I need." They eat their candy in a comfortable silence, savoring the sweet chocolate, and Evelyn savoring spending time with the girl. Molly had taken her last bite of the bar and went to unwrap the egg and Evelyn had nearly finished her bar when the door swishes open. Molly's anger instantly skyrockets again.

"I said get lost!" She chucks the notebook at the entering person, and he catches it with ease. He takes one look at the open pages and raises an eyebrow at Molly's drawing of Wei, which was spot on and expertise if Evelyn had anything to say about it. "Oh! Rick, I'm so sorry! I though you were..."

"Yeah, I know who you thought I was. Get dressed, little mouse. School is in session." Rick drawls, lowering the notebook and tossing it on the bed next to Evelyn.

"What do you mean 'school'?" Evelyn asks curiously, sitting up.

"I'll be coaching Molly from now on. Today her training begins." Rick smirks slightly, and Evelyn raises her eyebrow at that.

"I'm not leaving this room!" Molly snaps. Rick merely raises his eyebrow.

"NO! Leave me alone! Let me go! Evelyn! Help!" Molly screeches as Rick attempts to drag her out her door. And boy does she have a strong grip! Rick ended up having to dress her like a little kid, so her pajamas were still on under her cloths. There was nothing Evelyn could do, as her jumping on Rick's back and attempting a choke hold didn't phase him once. It was similar to Molly's fight with the Tin Can guy, really. Minus the pipe she used to beat him over the head with. But unfortunately she didn't have a Prince Aikka to take this threat out.

Rick pulls Molly's fingers loose, and continues to drag her down the catwalk. In a desperate attempt, Evelyn grasps onto Molly's flailing hands, but she just ends up getting dragged right along with the poor, struggling red head. Rick, tired of having to drag two teenaged girls along, flips Molly onto his shoulder as he goes down the stairs, causing Evelyn to trip and nearly fall down the stairs. Blue at this point, having been with Stan and Koji, takes the stairs four at a time up, barking and growling as her two favorite humans seemed to be in trouble.

"Easy there, big girl." Rick doesn't look phased at the wolf looking dog, and simply pats her head as he passes. She in turn watches after him, confused and calmer. Evelyn blames it on Blue being around him. If he was a stranger, she'd have demolished him. Or it could be the malamute in her shinning through, and not whatever else it was she was mixed with. People say their malamutes would cook a burglar a nice meal, show them where all the good stuff was and send them on their way, after all...

"Help! I'm being hijacked! HEEELLLPPP!" Molly kicks and screams some more, to no avail. Evelyn regains her footing and runs after the duo, Blue following behind at a steady pace. Evelyn groans as Rick sets himself on the extra rocket seat, and drives it out of the hanger. Stan and Koji snicker.

"You two are gonna get it later!" Evelyn growls as she makes a run for it after them, so she doesn't know if the two of them even shut up or not.

Luckily for the slightly out of shape Evelyn, she catches up to Rick and Molly by the lake right down the road from the hanger. Huffing and puffing, she collapses in the dirt next to them as Rick cautiously sets Molly down, whilst she attempt to run for it.

"Woah there, little cat. Maybe it'd do you some good to train with little mouse here." Rick says, obviously hiding his laughter. Molly leans down next to Evelyn, poking her head slightly with her finger.

"Never... In... A million... Years..." Evelyn gasps like a fish. She'd never ran so hard or so fast for so long in her life. Molly giggles at her. "See... Whatcha do... To meh... Molly? Only you... Will I... Ever run after like that." Molly smiles even wider as she stands.

"Alright, little mouse. While Evelyn here gets back on her feet, we're going to begin military style. We're running laps for the next hour and we'll finish up with some drills in the Arrow to get you ready for the race in the m orning." Rick says as he seats himself back on the rocket seat. "And if you do well, I'll figure out a way to reward you. Try to keep up, sweetheart! Try to not be such a girl!" Rick throws nonchalantly and takes off on the seat at a crawl. Rick's last words obviously angered Molly, as she takes off after him as fast as she can. Evelyn feels sour over the comment as well, even if she knows Rick is only using it as motivation.

Pulling herself up, Evelyn watches the duo race away to complete laps around the lake. 'Hrumph'ing, Evelyn turns on her heel and treks back up the little hill. Half way up, she realizes she's missing something, and whips back around. "Blue?" She calls. Looking back down the lake toward Rick and Molly, she sees a big black fuzz ball running along beside Molly. Feeling sore at the betrayal, Evelyn continues on with her plan, and retrieves her sketchbook, colored pencils, graphite sketching pencils, erasers, sharpeners, fine inking liners, and markers then returns to the lake.

Evelyn draws and sketches various things throughout the day as Rick and Molly go through different exercises. Evelyn had scoffed at the one where Rick made Molly climb up on top of poles with thin tips, almost like trees, and jump from pole to pole while keeping her balance. It had taken two hours of Molly falling off the top of the poles and into the water and Rick almost getting yelled at by Evelyn for putting her friend in danger before Molly finally did it. Then they were back to running laps, this time Rick sitting on the side lines with a stop watch, which Evelyn had no clue where he got it from in the first place. Then Molly had to do over a hundred push ups. Evelyn was truly surprised that Rick didn't make her summersault around or something similar. It was apparently all about the running, and Evelyn was surprised that Molly hadn't collapsed from exhaustion or just plain couldn't do it like Evelyn couldn't. Blue seemed to be enjoying the workout, though, stopping to lap at the lake water when she was thirsty then returning to her runs. Evelyn had questioned the okayness of Blue drinking alien water but she appeared fine.

At one point Evelyn even got up, went and made the three of them ham sandwiches with lettuce, tomato, onions and pickles, which is way better than it sounds (she preferred pastrami, but of course they didn't have it). She even brought them two bottles of water each when she took them their food. Molly downed an entire bottle before even touching her sandwich.

Then they of course went back to running. It was around five o'clock in the afternoon when Rick pulled Molly over to a set of little docks farther down the lake with their little black colored tag along. Evelyn was afraid he was going to make her swim laps or something, since of course this was an alien planet, and God only knows what kind of nasty, gruesome alien creatures lived below its surface. She had never seen one of the Scrubs swimming in the lake, therefore she assumed it had to be dangerous one way or another. Or they just didn't swim. Considering they were squid like creatures it was hard to believe.

Rick and Molly just appeared to be talking, though. Evelyn couldn't tell from this distance, but she was content to say they were talking. She just turned back to her sketch of Molly and continued coloring it happily. She couldn't think of anything else to draw, therefore was content to draw her crush. She had already drawn Rick before Molly, as he'd been standing relatively still, therefore was the perfect model and had been right in front of her. Plus his long black hair and sunglasses are just badass. No one can deny it. She was struggling with the color of Molly's goggles though, and wanted to be sure to get them right. If Molly never took them off, they had to be of at least some importance to her. Not that Molly would ever see this drawing...

Rick, Molly and Blue didn't sit for too long. Apparently Rick gave Molly a short 'pee break', as he'd called it, to check with Stan and Koji on the Arrow. Molly did in fact go back to their little garage with Rick, and Blue came to Evelyn at her call.

Evelyn slowed down her coloring as thoughts began to bombard her mind, and she ended up setting her colored pencil down to run her fingers through Blue's sun-warmed coat, a nervous habit she'd adopted along with playing with her hair when nervous. "Well hello there young Evelyn! Fancy seeing you here on this fine day!" Evelyn jumps and squeaks at the unexpected voice, and whips around to find Satis there, wearing a wrinkled smile.

"Satis, you live to scare the crap out of people with your sudden appearances and disappearances, don't you?!" Evelyn snaps.

"Well, I suppose you could say that. It's amusement that happens to also be hard to come by as of late."

"Why bug me and not someone else?" Evelyn grunts, and throws herself unhappily over Blue.

"I was just passing by and seen you looking a little down. You know you can always tell me what the matter is, see if I can help." Satis smiles wide at her, looking extremely innocent. Too innocent. Old men don't look this innocent. Evelyn has never heard of such a thing. Her eyes narrow at him.

"Meaning?" 

"You seem suspicious of me, Evelyn." Satis looks thoroughly amused. When she doesn't answer he takes a look at the open book in her lap. "You composed that?" Satis asks, curious.

"Erm, yeah..." Evelyn feels slightly embarrassed at being caught drawing her teammate and she stares down at the half colored drawing.

"It is coming along beautifully. It truly captures Miss Molly's spirit." Satis smiles.

Evelyn looks up at him, slightly startled. "Uh, thanks..." She looks back down.

"You know, Evelyn, if you don't make a move, someone else will. In the end you'll only regret the chances you didn't take. If you never try, you'll never know." Evelyn whips her head up, but finds the little alien gone. She growls.

"Why does he always have to do that shit?! Give some kind of advice then just vanish?!" Evelyn stews in her anger for a few more minutes, then goes back to coloring. She had never even been in a relationship before, dammit! How was she supposed to tell someone she liked them? And they're the same gender!

I don't know what the problem is but FF won't let me upload the entire document. So two parts!


	6. High Above the Ground Part 2

A good twenty minutes later Evelyn distantly hears the sound of the Arrow powering up, the only sound of its kind on Alwas. She in turn sighs, and pulls herself off the poor panting dog. Before she knows it the Arrow zooms over her, the wind ruffling her hair and papers, and comes to rest on the side of the lake facing clockwise. When she sees Rick coming over the top of the little hill, she begins packing her stuff up in the bag she usually carries it in with a small smile, not wanting to miss the fun.

Throwing the bag on her shoulder, she carefully trots after Rick's tall form to the side of the lake and seats herself on a nearby log.

"Decide to join the fun, little cat?" Rick smiles warmly at her. In response Evelyn nods enthusiastically and smiles wide.

"Why in the world would I stay out of it? It's way too much fun!"

"You don't even pilot the racer." Rick laughs lightly at her antics.

"Oh well, it still gives me an adrenaline rush to watch." Evelyn says matter-of-factly. Rick looks back to the waiting racer, and gives Molly the signal to step on it. She takes off eagerly around the lake.

"Is Jordan in there with her?" Evelyn asks.

"Yeah. He has to get use to the maneuvers too." Rick says then orders Molly to spin counter clockwise. She does, with beautiful grace and ease. At this, Evelyn begins getting excited. She drops her bag, and hops up eagerly. By the time Molly is back around the lake, Evelyn is jumping and cheering, waving excitedly at her.

"Now rotate to your right and hold it on its side." Rick orders. This maneuver would save Molly more than once in the future, Evelyn just knew it. This was one of the most important maneuvers any pilot of a star racer could ever know. They'd destroy their racers if they couldn't dodge obstructions.

Molly holds the move beautifully as she rounds the bend of the lake. "Alright, little mouse, enough of that crap. To your left!" Molly again executes it beautifully. The four, well five including Blue, of them went on like this until is was almost too dark to pilot the racer safely. By this time, Molly seemed like a pro. Rick had even commented on Molly's ability to learn so quickly. It was around seven Rick ordered Molly to put the racer up, and she drove it along slowly back up the hill and back to the pit.

Evelyn raced after it after scooping up her bag, going up the hill faster than Rick had ever seen anyone go. Molly had just pulled the racer in and hopped out of the cockpit as Jordan stepped out of the little side door when Evelyn came running in, completely excited and smiling wide. "That was beautiful, Molly! That flying was absolutely gorgeous!" Molly in turn smiles at Evelyn's infectious grin, but was unprepared for what came next. Evelyn wrapped her arms around Molly's thin hips, picked her up, and spun around happily.

Then Evelyn freezes in shock, ripping her face away from Molly's. Wide eyed, she looks at Molly, realizing what she had just done.

Molly's eyes are as wide as saucers, shock completely evident upon her beautiful face.

Evelyn had just... She'd just... _Kissed_ Molly! On the lips! She could have gotten away with a kiss on the cheek, but the lips? _Never_. 

Evelyn realized her arms are still wrapped around Molly's waist and she lets go like Molly is burning her, backing up a few steps. Evelyn can feel her face contort and tears build in her grey eyes. She looks at her brothers, who are obviously shocked, but not nearly as much as her. She steals a glance at Jordan, who is standing next to them. His jaw is completely slack and his eyes wide.

Evelyn spins around, the tears falling, and races out of the hanger, brushing past a not very shocked but raised eyebrowed Rick. She can hear Blue's steady footfalls, and she continues to race past the other team's hangers until she comes to the familiar bend of the road, where she stops when she rounds it. Almost all of the hangers are empty, as teams went home as they were eliminated. They were all locked, though so she couldn't exactly get into any of them.

"Miss Evelyn!" She hears a familiar voice and gasps, rubbing angrily at her eyes.

"Prince Aikka! I'm so sorry about the race yesterday!" She sniffles as she turns to face the Nourasian prince. She wouldn't have thought he'd be out at this time, let alone wanting to chat with her.

"You are forgiven, as should be done. After all, you were not even aboard the Earth Team's craft. What are you doing all the way over here at this hour? And looking so sad." He asks, pure curiosity and friendliness emanating from his very being as he approaches her.

"Uhm... I'll just be honest and not try to lie my way out of talking to you. I did something very stupid and wrong." Evelyn says slowly as Blue jumps up on the prince, placing her paws on his chest armor and he says 'well hello, there' to her quietly and pats at her head.

"May I know what this 'stupid and wrong' deed was?" Aikka asks carefully, rubbing at Blue's ears. "I may be able to help."

"I... I would really prefer to not mention it..." Evelyn hears a shrill like shriek, and looks over to her right to find G'Dar in his little enclosure of ropes.

"Looks as if G'Dar would like to say hello." Aikka says lightly, seeming to respect her want to not gush her problems on him.

With a small smile, Evelyn cautiously approaches the beetle, and after letting him assess her, she rubs at the white that makes up his fore-body, unsure where else to pet at a ginormous beetle.

Blue cautiously comes up by her side, her hackles puffed out and her body stiff. Evelyn looks at Aikka worriedly, but he simply smiles as he too rubs at G'Dar.

Blue sniffs at the beetle, and he clicks in turn, flicking his long snake-like tongue in the air.

"Blue," Evelyn says warningly. "Be nice."

Blue glances up at her, and after a few minutes, her hackles slowly flatten back down and curiosity takes over. She sniffs at G'Dar's head, legs and body, going along his entire length, causing Evelyn to chuckle and Aikka to crack a smile. It's when Blue makes her way back up to G'Dar's head and he licks at her and she recoils, frightened, that Aikka and Evelyn laugh lightly.

"Your Earthen pets are certainly something," Aikka says fondly. "This is called a 'dog', is it not?"

"Yeah, she's a dog. She's part wolf, and whatever else her dad was mixed with. What I mean by that is that there are different breeds of dogs, and when different breeds intermix, they are called mutts or referred to as mixed." Evelyn explains at Aikka's confused look, which clears at her explanation. "Well, I hate to tell you I'm going, but I'll leave you and G'Dar to it."

"You are more than welcome to stay, Evelyn. I can have a room prepared for you if you do not wish to go back to your team's pit." Aikka says, ever the gentlemanly alien that he is. Evelyn could fall in love with Nourasia and live there, ya know, if they weren't currently allianced with the Crogs. They seem so nice and hospitable, if Aikka was anything to go by.

"You're so sweet Aikka, you really are." She pulls him into a quick hug, which the prince gladly reciprocates. "But I'm gonna go on a little adventure for myself. I feel I need the solitude for a bit to think things through." Aikka nods at her excuse. Truth be told she was only going to go sulk and brood.

"I know the feeling well. I will leave you be then, Miss Evelyn. Remember you're always welcome here if you need temporary boardings."

"Thank you, Aikka. That means a lot. Thank you so much for cheering me up." With a departing smile and last pat of G'Dar, Evelyn continues on down the road. She continues on for awhile, just following the path so she wouldn't get lost in the growing darkness. With Blue at her side, she wasn't afraid of much. Crogs, maybe. That's about it.

Evelyn simply watched the starry sky until the path came parallel to the jagged cliff with the waves of the ocean pounding against it down below. She could just see the crumbled pile of rocks out in the water from Aikka's target practice. She didn't realize how far she'd walked.

With a heavy sigh, she sits down near a nearby tree, ignoring the growing chill as Blue curled up next to her, the dog's normal body temperature of 102.5 degrees Fahrenheit enough to keep her warm. For now.

After a while of watching the stars and listening to the waves pound on the defenseless cliff face, unable to take the thoughts anymore, Evelyn digs through her bag that she had only just remembered she'd had on her back when she shifted. What she finds at the bottom makes her unreasonably happy, considering her mood and situation. All she could feel was the shame of it, feel bad for dragging her first real friend beside Stan and Koji into that. And she hadn't even known she was doing it until her mind had caught up to her body! She... She couldn't go back there. Evelyn wasn't sure what she was going to do, but she wasn't going to go back to her teammates. Her brothers, yes. But the others, she certainly couldn't face.

Pulling her mini speaker/iPod in one she hadn't even remembered she had in there, she huffs gratefully. She hadn't seen this for four months! So this is where it's been when she was in need of some work music. She supposed it was a true blessing in disguise. Even if she went a little stir crazy when working at Miguel's in silence since she didn't have the extra cash to buy another.

Taking consideration of the other life forms most likely attempting to sleep, Evelyn turns the speaker on low and sets it aside after putting on her album she had labeled as "Depressed/Brooding". Many of the songs in this album were in others, as she used them as dual purpose work, artistic motivation, and just plain enjoyment. It was all dependent upon her mood and how she felt like interpreting the song at the moment. She likes old music, from the first twenty years of the 2000s and even listens to some 1920s Jazz when she's in the particular mood. She feels they have a lot more meaning and passion than modern music, and the Jazz was almost completely otherworldly in its quality, style and composition. The early 2000s music was easily music from her grandmother's era, if anything.

Evelyn can't even bring herself to open her sketchbook to kill some time and numb her mind. She'd been drawing Molly, and the drawing is in the pages of that sketchbook. She shoves it roughly into her bag, fighting the urge to throw the damn thing over the cliff. On Earth, she would have, but this was not her planet, she couldn't just throw things everywhere.

She lays down and places her head on Blue, watching the two moons and stars. The music helps clear her mind, but not completely. She doesn't even really hear it as she thinks, despite herself. Drifting between dozing and wakefulness all night, not one wink of a real REM sleep, she decides during the race in the morning, she would go back to the pit to get her belongings, say her farewells to her brothers and head back to Earth. There was nothing else she could do, and she wouldn't stay and make Molly and herself feel uncomfortable just to be part of this adventure of a lifetime. She'd be waiting for her brothers to get back to Earth, and it wouldn't be more than three or four weeks before they'd be on their way back themselves. Plus they were fully capable of doing their work without her, they truthfully didn't need her, even if she preached otherwise.

The next time she opens her eyes, dusk is breaking over the horizon, causing the stars to begin to disappear and the clouds be tinged in red.

 _"But it was not your fault but mine, And it was your heart on the line, I really fucked it up this time, Didn't I, my dear? Didn't I, my dear?"_

The conclusion of the song catches Evelyn's attention as she becomes more aware, curled snuggly into Blue's fur. The dog is snoring lightly, yipping and quietly barking and growling in her sleep. Normally Evelyn would have smiled fondly and gave a little laugh and shake of her head, but at the moment she can barley lift the corner of her mouth.

Realizing how uncomfortable she is and how much the side she is laying on is aching, she flips her body on her back, leaving her left hand and face snuggly in Blue's plush coat. The next beat that starts is normally one that would make her want to get up and dance and sing along, but not at the moment. Either this somehow got put in this album by accident or it had run out of songs to play and automatically switched to the next album on the list.

 _"It's safe to say I'm lost, Without you in my arms, So I call your name and I pray you might, Come and watch over me like the pale moonlight, Until the sun comes back around. Take me down, take me down by the water, water, Pull me in until I see the light, Let me drown, let me drown, in your honey, honey, In your love I wanna be baptized. Take me down, take me down by the water, water,"_

Evelyn can feel tears well in her eyes and soak into the dark plush coat beneath her as they fall one by one.

 _"And the days and nights are cold, Without your body to hold, So I close my eyes hoping you'll appear, Cause it feels like grace every time you're near, yeah, Don't leave, until the sun comes back around."_

Evelyn feels something warm grasp her icy fingers, and she sits up quickly in shock, her head spinning from the action. Her eyes already blown wide from being woken up from her stupor, they land on Molly, who's looking at her from a sideways glance, sitting next to her with a blank expression on her face.

Evelyn rips her hand from Molly's bare one, bringing it to slap down over her trembling lips with a painful sounding strike as she turns her head away. Blue had jolted up along with Evelyn with a growl, looking startled. The dog simply paced around the two, sniffing at both to insure they were okay before settling back in her original place beside Evelyn. The song had ended and was on to the next before Molly spoke up. No, that song had ended up in the album on accident.

"Aikka told me which way you had went this morning. I'm glad I found you." Molly says lowly, making Evelyn's eyes drip more profusely at the tone. She can feel her body begin to tremble lightly. "The way Stan and Koji talked last night they made it sound like you'd off yourself or leave." Evelyn squeezed her eyes together tighter. They knew her better than she thought they did.

Molly gently but firmly makes Evelyn turn her head toward her with her right hand and wrenches Evelyn's hand from her mouth with her left. Evelyn tries to keep a straight face, but a small, choked sob escapes her lips and her face contorts slightly.

Then Evelyn feels the unexpected sensation of soft, warm, slightly chapped, thin lips on hers. Her eyes blow wide as Molly pulls away, a slight smile gracing her features. Molly puts her right hand to the side of her head as the wind whips her short black and red hair around lightly. Evelyn, despite the situation, finds the way it looks completely adorable.

When Evelyn can do nothing but stare, Molly pulls the startled, stiff girl into her side, holding her there. After a few more songs, the album runs out of songs to play, and switches to one of her happier albums.

The trio watch the sun rise, but before it's even a quarter way over the horizon Molly looks down at Evelyn. "Y'know, I've had boys corner me and kiss me before, and they're cute and all, but you make me feel different than any of them ever have." Evelyn doesn't take her eyes off of the glistening water. "I didn't sleep well last night, and we shouldn't have to be up until at least ten. Let's go get some sleep." Molly tries after a few minutes. Evelyn nods and they both slowly stand. Evelyn grabs her bag and mini stereo before Molly can, and turns the stereo off. Molly grabs Evelyn's hand, and they walk back the way they came with Blue not far behind.

"I wish you'd say something." Molly says quietly.

Evelyn slows slightly. "...I..." Molly looks back at her. "... I don't... Don't know what to say." She finishes quietly. Molly just nods and looks ahead again.

Evelyn can't help but feel guilty about this. Molly probably thinks she's rejecting her. Evelyn looks at their interlinked fingers for awhile. She honestly couldn't comprehend the sight. Something she couldn't really tell what was bubbled up in the pit of her stomach. She almost wanted to call it a feeling of dread, but it wasn't. Her stomach was doing summersaults like they never had before beside when she was nervous. She looks around at their surroundings for the first time. They were about half way back now.

As she looked, she spotted something that gave her, in her mind, a fantastic idea. She gently pulled her fingers from Molly's, and the girl looked back at her. Evelyn could see the hurt bubbling up in her gorgeous reddish brown eyes, and simply smiled at her as she walked off with a skip in her step to her new destination. She hoped she still remembered what she had learned in that one class of hers.

Leaning down in the patch of beautiful flowers and flowering shrubs, Evelyn gets to work. She glances back to ensure Molly is still there, and she is, looking completely curious now with Blue sitting at her side. Evelyn turns back around, already envisioning her end result. They certainly weren't roses, carnations, birds of paradise, lilies, dogwood, or aster, but they would suffice.

In just a few minutes Evelyn has arranged a lush bouquet of red, whitish silver, violet, orange and yellow flowers that looked like a cross between a rose, morning glory, and daisy. They looked weird but were strangely beautiful. Back on Earth, Evelyn could easily talk to someone using flowers. She had told her adoptive mother and brothers how much she loved, appreciated them, wished them well, and what irreplaceable friends they were using bouquets of flowers. They'd had no clue about it and her brothers were confused upon her giving them _flowers_ of all things until Evelyn had explained that she was talking to them with flowers. She refused to tell them their meanings and they had to look them up themselves, strangely happy with what they found.

With a heavy blush, Evelyn hid her face behind the large bouquet, slowly approaching Molly once more. She stole a glance from around the bouquet to see Molly covering her mouth with her hand, obviously hiding her laughs. Almost ashamed, Evelyn presented Molly with the flowers, causing the gorgeous girl to smile wide.

Once the flowers were out of Evelyn's hands, she linked her fingers together and stared at her feet. Molly kissed her forehead in a lingering kiss, causing an extremely embarrassed as it was Evelyn to glance up. Molly once again grabs Evelyn hand with her free one and they continue on back to their temporary home.

When they get to their hanger, it's silent and the garage door is shut tight. No one is up yet as Molly slides the door to the side just enough for both of them to fit through. Once in, the door is once again shut and locked.

Stopping by their little kitchenette first, Molly pulls a strange looking but large cup from the cupboards. She fills it with water and places the stems of the flowers into it, and Evelyn steps in and fluffs them out and rearranges them without a word. They looked a little odd without foliage, but there wasn't much she could do.

Molly once again locks hands with Evelyn and leads them up the stairs to her room. The door swishes open and they walk through the dimly sunlit room, Blue sneaking in behind them.

Molly places the 'vase' on her bedside table, and Evelyn places her bag carefully on the ground next to the bed. Molly climbs into the bed without pulling her regular T-shirt and the team's uniform pants off, but she does flip her tennis shoes off. She pulls an unsure Evelyn down onto the mattress, and after Evelyn flips her shoes off, they both climb under the blankets. They cuddle into each other, their hands interlocking and foreheads pressed lightly together as they close their eyes tiredly. Before either knows it, they're both sound asleep.

Blue sits there, staring at her favorite humans curiously. She'd known they were attracted to each other, she had instincts, and they were never wrong if she had any say in the matter. They always reeked of pheromones. Well, at least over the last few weeks. Blue could never quite understand how they couldn't seem to smell the scent they produced. They produced it for a reason; to communicate with each other. It was plain as the day currently breaking over the horizon! It was no wonder they needed dogs around! They wouldn't survive long without them, as far as Blue was concerned.

Tilting her head as she ponders, she decides to drop it. There wasn't much she could do to change it anyway.

She slowly and carefully pulls herself up onto the foot of the bed. She certainly didn't want to be yelled at, and didn't want to sleep on the hard floor. She was obviously spoiled and pampered. The only option? Not wake up the sleeping humans, cause she had no clue weather she was allowed up here or not.

Blue curls herself up into a careful fuzzy black ball, and closes her eyes. She'd guard these two with her life if she had to, she decides.

 **Favorite short ever! We see Satis, Aikka, kisses, flower gifting, and cuddling! *squeeeee!***

 **Song #1: Little Lion Man - Mumford and Sons**

 **Song #2: Baptized - Daughtry (it's not actually a religious song, despite the word 'baptized' being in it. Just a fun little FYI :) )**

 **** **I do not own anything composed by Mumford and Sons or Daughtry.**

 **We'll see how things go. I almost feel enthusiastic enough to rewrite the entire story with Evelyn. But I have other priorities as well and I feel I may not be able to finish it if I start it if I lose my muse. Again, we'll see.**


	7. Resilient Like Rush

**Though I was gone, huh? Not quite yet. I've still got enough for at least three more. ;)**

 **This one is pretty long.**

 **And genetic make up fascinates me, so here's my head cannon of Eva's and Evelyn's genetic make up:**

 **Evelyn: 50% Portuguese 32% German 8% Polish 4% Blackfoot Native American 6% Spaniard 3% Norwegian 1% African**

 **Eva/Molly: 45% French 25% Japanese 11% Russian 10% Scottish 9% Welsh**

 **Enjoy!**

Warm and cozy, Evelyn forces herself to open her eyes as even the slightest bit of consciousness ignites in her tired brain. Oh, how she'd love to roll over and go back to sleep. She's faintly aware of a body next to her, and the sound of quiet, almost nonexistent snores, but were there nonetheless. This helps bring her to consciousness, almost shocked.

She'd been sure it was all a dream.

Then she registers knocking coming from the door, and Blue's vicious growling. Evelyn looks over to see Blue standing on the foot of the bed, her head bent around the post of the canopy to stare at the door.

Three quick knocks come again, then "Molly, you in there? We've got two hours to race time. It's probably a good time to get going." Jordan. Evelyn should have guessed.

Blue lets loose with another round of loud growls. Evelyn quietly calls the dog's name, and her brown and blue eyes train on her and she falls quiet.

Evelyn stares at her and Molly's still loosely interlocked fingers for a moment, palm to palm, thumb to thumb as they lay between their chests. At the next knock, Evelyn sighs lightly. He wouldn't give up until he got a response.

She carefully pulls their fingers apart, brushes a few strands of hair out of Molly's lax, peaceful face, kisses her forehead, and does her best to not jostle the bed as she pulls herself up. She just realized how uncomfortable she really was, with a pair of jeans on and she'd slept in her bra. The only comfortable thing she had on was her red plaid button up shirt and black sweater, which were unkempt and wrinkled from sleeping in. Not to mention the sweater wasn't all that comfortable and it felt too thick on her just waking up body.

Evelyn circles her hand over Blue's head, ears, down her jaw, and off her chin as she passes. When she reaches the door, she steels herself, and presses the button on the wall next to the door, causing it to swish open.

She sees a surprised Jordan on the other side. His demeanor instantly turns awkward. "Oh! Uh, E-Evelyn! Is Molly in there?" He smiles forcefully, looking over Evelyn and into the room, his eyes searching.

"Yeah, she is. She's still sleeping." Evelyn rubs at her burning eyes with the heels of her hands.

"Uh, the race is in a few hours, it might be a good time to get her up and all..." Jordan looks down at the ground. Evelyn can see the unspoken questions dancing around his eyes.

"Look, Jordan. Calm down." Jordan looks at her, slightly startled. "Molly came and found me before the sun even came up this morning. Neither of us got any sleep last night, so we're both kinda exhausted. I'll make sure she's up, but thank you for being so concerned. At least for her. Neither of us would have been up if you hadn't tried to wake her up." Evelyn smiles tiredly but genuinely at the gunner. She could only wonder what was going through his head at the moment. He in turn nods, still seeming a little awkward. "You're not a homophobe, are you?" Evelyn asks suddenly. She was truly afraid of being rejected, being why she keeps her sexuality hidden. She really couldn't care less what people thought of her, but when they knew her personally and actually had right to judge her, she was always worried.

Just because gay marriage had been legalized way over fifty years ago in 2015, it didn't mean that there weren't any homophobes and people that complained about it around. There were a lot less than there were, sure, and it really was far from a big deal anymore, hadn't been since a few years after the fact, but there was still that small fraction of the population that had a problem with it. Evelyn could only pray Jordan and the other two uninformed members of this team weren't part of the small percentage of the population.

"What?" Jordan looks completely bemused. "No, never! I just... I just don't know what to think." He says honestly with a shrug.

"Fair enough, my friend." Evelyn yawns. "I want to do something special for Molly. Want me to make you a little something to eat when I make her something?" Evelyn had cooked for the team a few times with the rationed food they had, and all of them had loved it every time. It was mostly canned goods and such, and dried things like ramen noodles and powdered milk. Evelyn had had a say in what came along as food product. All of them did, really, but in reality they were only allowed enough to last their trip in case they 'couldn't find anything edible on other planets' as the government had put it. They didn't have the greatest variety, but it was still food. Evelyn could make some bomb things truthfully, but even without all of her usual ingredients, as she used mostly fresh produce, it was still pretty good. The first thing she was gonna do when she got to Earth was have a huge garden salad.

"Yeah, sure! If you'd like. I wouldn't mind at all." Jordan gives her a genuine smile, the first one all day.

"Great. I'll let you know when it's ready." Jordan suddenly grabs her in a chokehold and noogies her. "Ow, Jordan! That hurts!" Evelyn pushes against Jordan's middle as hard as she can, to no avail. Jordan lets her go, racing away and Evelyn has to windmill to try and keep her balance as her hand smacks into the doorframe. With a sigh Evelyn looks over her shoulder to find a still sound asleep Molly. She'd slept through all that. She's a heavier sleeper than Evelyn!

After calling Blue and they exit the room, Evelyn heads to hers down the little hall. She wanted to rinse her body off in the weird little running water system they had that she supposed could classify as a shower, as the water was warm and meant for bathing, but no where near as warm as Evelyn liked it.

She did this quickly, deciding to not wash her hair as she'd done so yesterday. By the time she was dressed again, only fifteen minutes had passed and she felt much better than she had bodily wise. Her hair was a nightmare to brush out, the waves waving together to knot her hair. It frustrates her to no end and ninety nine percent of the time she ends up ripping half her hair out in the brush. She throws her hair up in a simple high ponytail and she's off to the kitchen barefoot with Blue by her side.

Blue knew if she was in the kitchen she was almost guaranteed to get a little something. Evelyn cooked her food seventy five percent of the time as it was, not to mention everything Evelyn would 'accidentally' drop on the floor.

Evelyn rummaged through the boxes of food. Some items were really odd, like canned scrambled eggs and dehydrated and salted bacon and other meats. They were useful, especially now, but Evelyn cringed every time she thought about it. It was just truthfully gross sounding. With the proper seasonings though, it was alright. She'd never touch the stuff again when she had access to fresh eggs and meats, though. Evelyn was just happy there was no Spam. That stuff was just plain nasty.

Evelyn had ensured they had raw honey. She wasn't the hugest fan, but she knew it was just basically natural sugar and had to be good in something. She was correct. With limited creamer, the honey added a nice touch to her secret coffee hoard so she didn't have to add as much creamer. Plus her brothers liked it and Rick and Wei ended up liking it too so it was half gone with everything they used it on.

Deciding on the traditional breakfast of scrambled eggs, fried potatoes since they didn't have hashbrowns and they were of course canned, ham, and pancakes (praise the lord for water-mixable pancake batter) Evelyn gets to work. Vegetable oil was another thing she'd made sure they had, so she could fry whatever she needed to correctly instead of cook it.

Evelyn filled a dish with water and soaked the pieces of ham in them. They'd have to sit for a few minutes. Damn them being dehydrated and like uncooked beef jerky but there was nothing she could do about it.

Speaking of beef jerky... Evelyn pulled out a large package of teriyaki flavored jerky to chew on as she cooks out of the boxes. Only her, Stan and Rick really liked it so it was lasting longer than Evelyn thought it would.

Before too long, the eggs were done, the ham is sizzling away on the pans, the potatoes are almost done and she continues flipping the pancakes over as they need to be. She didn't have to make very many, she didn't like them much so it was really only Molly and Jordan she was making them for. She was only making Jordan food out of pity to be completely honest. The poor guy seemed out of his skin.

Blue sat a few feet away, her eyes upturned and watching Evelyn intently. Evelyn didn't make it obvious at all that she was reacting to the begging by 'accidentally' dropping bits and pieces here and there. Everyone got mad at her for it, since they wouldn't have enough food to last if she kept giving it to the dog. Blue lived off all the leftovers and whatever Evelyn could find in the market that she deemed okay for her precious pooch to consume. The dog was luckily keeping a good weight, but had lost a few pounds. All of them had, really. None of them were too keen on most of the alien food, but managed to stomach most of it so they ate it. Their little store of Earth food was merely a treat in their vacation from Earth.

"Hey, what smells so good? Evelyn?" Stan wonders into the kitchen, and stares at his younger sister quizzically, sounding surprised.

"Hey, bro. What's been happenin'?" Evelyn flips another pancake onto the stack on the plate.

"I thought we wouldn't be seeing you for awhile, let alone you be cooking," Stan says, coming up behind Evelyn and pulling her into a side hug. "What happened for you to be back so quick?"

"Molly came and found me..." Evelyn says, a hint of embarrassment coloring her tone.

Stan steps back a bit, hands on his hips and a smile breaking across his face. "So, is my little sister finally in her first relationship?"

"Knock it off, you smug asshole!" Evelyn can feel her face heat up. "And I don't know! It's all up to Molly!"

"Calm down, there. It'll all work itself out and what's meant to be will be," Stan says, quietly grabbing a plate and flipping four pancakes onto it.

"What's with you, sounding so- HEY! Those aren't for you!" Evelyn attempts to slap his hand with a pancake batter coated spoon, the floor being splattered with the batter when she misses.

"Race is in an hour and a half." Stan chuckles as he walks back the way he came.

"Hey, share those with Koji! And make sure the racer is in perfect working order!" Evelyn orders.

"Will do! Thank you!"

Evelyn grumbles with narrowed eyes, watching Blue lap at the batter on the floor eagerly. With a roll of her eyes, she turns back to her work. She flips the last three finished pancakes onto the plate, and counts them. Eleven left.

That'd be plenty for Jordan and Molly. She hoped.

She blows out the remaining flames then pulls two plates down.

"Hey! Stan just passed me with a plate of pancakes!" Jordan rushes in. "What happened to feeding me?"

"For one, Stan took them without my okay and I told him he had to share with Koji, and two, there's still plenty here for you." Evelyn flips five pancakes onto a plate.

"Awesome!" Jordan looks elated.

"If I give you this, you have to go wake up Molly for me while I make her plate." Evelyn loads his plate with food she was sure would end up being left over. There wasn't too awfully much but not not a small amount, either.

"Oh, no problem, Evy! Whatever you say!" Evelyn was sure he could rival even Blue's begging and puppy eyes at this moment.

"Evy?" Evelyn asks, putting a last piece of ham on his plate and handing it out to him with a fork. That was certainly a new one.

"Yeah. Everyone usually just calls you 'Evelyn' and I think it's starting to get too long to say. So 'Evy.'" Jordan says matter-of-factly, turning on his heel and happily skips out of the room as he stabs a piece of ham with his fork.

With a risen eyebrow, Evelyn begins fixing Molly's plate up. She decides to load an un-eatable amount on the plate. Maybe a big guy like Rick could eat it all, but certainly not tiny little Molly. Evelyn could eat, she really could, but not even she could stomach the amount she loaded on the plate. The remaining six pancakes, and loads of everything else she'd cooked.

Evelyn was setting the plate down on the tiny little kitchen table when Molly walked in, yawning widely and rubbing at her tired eyes.

"Mornin' there, sweetheart!" Evelyn smiles wide.

"Morning." Molly stands there in the cloths she'd went to sleep in, looking a little confused and obviously slightly out of it.

"Made breakfast for ya! We have roughly an hour til race time," Evelyn says cheerily, her stomach flying this way and that at the sight of Molly.

"Oh..." Molly just looks at Evelyn quizzically.

"Your plate's right on the table." Evelyn grins.

"That?" Molly questions. "No, that looks like something Rick could eat. All we need is some whipped cream and fruit and that could be an I Hop breakfast."

The 'I Hop' comment causes Evelyn to laugh lightly. "I'd hope so, Love! You deserve it and need it before the race this morning." Molly grabs another plate from the cupboard. When she sits down, she takes half the food from the plate, and pushes it over to the middle of the table.

"That's a more reasonable amount." Molly smiles, and digs in hungrily.

Evelyn sits across from her after making her own plate, the potatoes piled high, a small bit of eggs and a few pieces of ham. "Good?" Evelyn grins at Molly happily.

"Oh, yes! I'd love to see what you can do with fresh ingredients if you can make canned food taste this great." Molly shovels more eggs in her mouth, causing Evelyn to giggle happily.

"Well, I can only hope I don't disappoint. How about if you win the race today, I make you the bombest dinner I can?" Evelyn coaxes, trying to discretely ask Molly on a date.

"That would be awesome! I'd love that." Molly smiles happily at the brown haired girl.

"Great! It's a date then."

"Date?" Molly asks, slowly catching on and adopting a sly look to her face.

"Yeah, sure. Why not?" Evelyn can feel her face ignite, and becomes slightly self conscious.

"It's a date." Molly smirks, seeming just as embarrassed as Evelyn is.

"Nice work, the both of you. I knew something was up between you." Rick claps a few times as he walks into the kitchen, seating himself beside Molly and pulling the plate of extra food Molly had taken off her own plate in front of himself. He looks it over then picks up a pancake in his hand, taking a bite out of it.

"Too badass for silverware or something?" Evelyn teases.

"You know it, little cat." Rick flashes a smirk at her. Evelyn raises an eyebrow at Molly.

"He calls me little cat, and you little mouse. Is this a coincidence or are there greater forces at work here?" Molly just shrugs her "I don't know."

Rick laughs. "I can assure you it's a coincidence."

"Whatever, Rick," Evelyn giggles happily.

"By the way, little mouse, love the racers' new look," Rick stands, a smirk on his face, picking the plate up and walking out the way he came.

Evelyn's eyes dart to Molly. "New look?" She raises an eyebrow. "Should I be terrified?"

Molly laughs. "No, I just spray painted the left reactor last night. No big deal. Rick told me to do it and everyone had already went to eat dinner." She snickers happily as she shoves another forkful of food in her mouth. "I already got yelled at for it."

"By the way, Molly, Wei wants you to run a few more drills in the Arrow before the race. We have 30 minutes to do so so that the Arrow can get looked over. Get your butt out here!" Rick shouts into the kitchen and his head once again disappears.

Molly sighs as she stands, throwing Evelyn a smile as she jogs out of the kitchen. Evelyn follows after at a slower pace like the little puppy dog that she is.

As Evelyn walks into the hanger, the Arrow zooms off. Rick must already be down at the lake waiting. She turns her attention to Stan and Koji.

"So, did everything look good?"

"Everything looked great. We'll just need to refuel, we won't even have to run a diagnostic unless Molly crashes into something or bangs the Arrow up." Koji says happily.

"It kind of gets to be a pain having to look the Arrow over before and after EVERY race and practice." Stan groans as he puts his tool boxes up.

"Hey, that's our job, smart one. Not to mention all the pilots that would die due to technical difficulties if star racers didn't get looked over as much as they do. I can't count how many times I've found something before one of these races that could have ended in a fatality if it hadn't been fixed. It's making me nervous to NOT look that racer over before this race." Evelyn shifts from foot to foot nervously.

"Ev, we just spent three hours looking it over, it'll be fine just this once." Stan reassures.

"I'm still running a quick diagnostic." Evelyn grumbles as she moves to help her brothers put their tools away. Evelyn had just planted herself in her blue lawn chair in the corner of the hanger when Molly pulls the racer in. Rick follows not too far behind and parks his rocket seat in its designated corner.

Evelyn hops up and grabs Koji's laptop to run a diagnostic. With only twenty minutes to race time, it had to be quick. When she makes it over to the racer, Jordan bursts out of the turret hatch, collapsing on the ground looking nauseous.

"Did they take you for quite a spin, Jordan?" Evelyn laughs as she connects the wires into the Arrow.

"More literally than you will ever know." He gags.

"Hey, don't take it for granted, I'd do anything to be able to be in that racer every race. And if you puke, you're cleaning it." She tacks on as an after thought. He'd yet to puke, but each race kept getting more intense, so it could still happen.

She finishes the diagnostic and when it comes back at all systems 100%, Evelyn is finally satisfied. She sets the laptop back where she found it.

"Alright people! Let's get it together, it's almost time! I'm counting on all of you to do your very best and win today's race!" Wei's voice booms when Evelyn is half way up the Arrow's cockpit ladder.

"Me, me, me! A simple good luck would be nice, just _once_!" Evelyn catches the grumbling as she pokes her head over the side of the cockpit.

"Good luck, Love." Evelyn grins happily as Molly jumps, surprised.

"Evelyn!" Molly gasps.

"Hey, even if he continues to be an ass, you've still got me. I'm always rooting for ya." Evelyn says happily as she pulls herself over the edge and prances over to Molly, pulling her down to plant a good luck kiss on her forehead. "You're gonna win today's race, I can feel it. And it'll be all you! You're the one that's going to get us to Oban." Evelyn grins reassuringly at Molly.

"Thanks, Evelyn." Molly says quietly, a light pink color dusting her cheeks. With a last glance to Molly, Evelyn climbs out of the cockpit. Rick in turn climbs up when Evelyn jumps the last two pegs down and steps away from the ladder. She looks after him curiously, but pays no mind to it.

"Refueling complete!" Stan calls, and Evelyn notices Rick jump down from the ladder. It makes her heart thud for a second, until she sees he's just fine.

"Even if he can't see you from Earth, I'm sure your dad feels your victories." Rick motions to his heart. Evelyn grins. He gave her a pep talk. Just what Molly needed!

"All systems ready, it's a go!" Evelyn calls, a happy pitch to her voice.

"Thank you, Rick." Evelyn can tell Molly has just melted. And when Molly melts, that means her fire will come back ten fold. She's for sure going to win today. Evelyn watches as the glass shield covers the cockpit, concealing Molly in opaque orange tone glass. The Arrow starts up, and hovers out of the hanger. Down the shoot they go, and they're off to the races.

Evelyn bounces happily, calls to Blue, and races to the control room. She crashes into her swivel chair, causing it to spin around. She pulls her seat up beside Stan at her designated computer as the race begins.

"For the fourth round of the playoffs, we now call fourth the Earth team!" Blasts through their speakers, and Molly pulls the Arrow into the arena. "And from the planet Byrus, Rush the Storm Crusher!" Evelyn raises an eyebrow at the monster of a ship that enters the arena and is set down next to the petite looking Arrow.

"Hey Jordan, look at that." Molly's voice drifts through the speakers as well.

"Eh, that fat Santa doesn't scare me." Jordan retaliates.

"Jordan!" Evelyn scolds.

"What?! He doesn't!" Jordan's voice is filled with terror. Evelyn just rolls her eyes. "Well... Not really..." Jordan finishes after Rush twirls his scythe around slams it into the deck of his racer.

"That racer looks too heavy to be fast." Rick muses.

"Koji." Wei says in a no nonsense tone that just pisses Evelyn off.

"Fused magma for propulsion, extremely resistant exterior. There's no telling how much thrust he has." Koji turns around to look at Wei.

"Keep digging, remember I don't like surprises." Wei snaps.

"Hey, these are all aliens, they're nothing but surprises." Evelyn retaliates, wanting to say something sassy. Wei ignores her.

Today's playoff will have a special rule." One of the Scrubs digs around in a little sack, and pulls out a little yellow ball.

"Target race!" The scrub call out in his scratchy voice.

"A target race. I like the sound of that one." Jordan grins.

"Stan, Evelyn, do you know what that means?" Molly asks, as the adopted siblings pop up on her HUD.

"I haven't a clue." Stan says.

"Hitting targets or something?" Evelyn attempts to use common sense, but her suggestion comes out more of a question. Again, these are aliens, there's no telling exactly WHAT they mean until you actually see it done.

"There's surprise targets no doubt." Wei grumbles.

"Come on, Don. Relax. Trust the kids to do their thing." Rick says calmly, his sunglassed eyes staring intently at the screen.

"As if I have a choice!"

Evelyn can't help but roll her eyes at Wei. They've made it this far, haven't they?! She turns her attention back to the big screen as the gate begins to fall one stone by one. Both speed off as the last stone falls, Rush's ship jumping ahead. Molly quickly takes the lead, only for Rush to catch up again just as quickly.

"Molly! I can't hold him off!" Jordan shouts, panicked, as he ceases his fire at Rush's ship and pulls the turret into the turret track as Rush pushes the Arrow into the wall, continuing to do so when the Arrow scrapes the sides.

"Not good!" Molly cries out at the nails on a chalk board sound. Evelyn gasps. "It's edge time!" Molly says smugly, remembering what she's learned from Rick and spins the Arrow out from between the wall and Rush's ship. The ship in turn hits the wall of the track, the Arrow speeding off to take the lead.

"Yeah, Molly! Woo!" Evelyn cheers.

"Yeah, that's my girl!" Rick says happily.

"That was so not cool!" Molly gripes.

"Sir, I think you should know that the alien ship is cruising at only 40% of its capacity, in other words, he's dragging his feet." Koji tells Wei, a confused tone coloring his voice.

"Why on Earth would he do that?" Wei asks./

Evelyn is sobered at Koji's words, and looks intently to the screen. She gasps when appendages burst from the sides of the ship. There's a little ball on a peg, and that's what one of the appendages hit. It explodes in a cloud of orange.

"One point for Rush!" The announcers call out. "And an extra bonus point for being the first to score!"

Evelyn gasps, louder this time, as she hits the button to connect to Molly's HUD. "Molly! Those little balls at the sides of the track! Those are the targets! Hit them! That's how you're going to score and win! JORDAN! Don't just sit there! Shoot them!" Evelyn can faintly hear the Scrub announcer explaining the purpose, but she's already got it figured out. Molly gasps, looking back at the sphere she just passed.

"That's it!" Molly yells out in realization, and immediately turns the Arrow around. "Jordan! Listen to Evelyn! Hit them!" Molly squeaks as Rush's ship rounds the corner, destroying both targets that were parallel to each other. "Damnit!" Molly growls with a glare, flipping the arrow around. As Molly catches up to Rush, Jordan begins aiming ahead for the next two, which is the only thing keeping everyone from screaming. The anticipation is killing them, nonetheless.

"Gotchya!" Jordan gushes as his screens lock onto the target. He gets the first, but the appendages on Rush's ship prevent him from hitting the second, which caused Evelyn to groan loudly. Another point for Rush.

"Rush five, Earth team one!"

"Faster, Molly! Without this victory, we're finished! Find the targets!"

"Ey, cut her some slack! She's doing the best she can!" Evelyn can't keep her mouth shut anymore, she just can't. She's had it. With a wild look in her eye, she glares at a just as equally angry Wei. Both angrily turn their attentions back to the screen. Evelyn can faintly hear Rick saying something, and Wei yelling back, but she doesn't care to listen as Molly spins into a tunnel, barley missing the sides. He eyes narrow further as they hear more targets being demolished.

"This is the wrong tunnel! He's got all the targets on his side!" Jordan says, moving the turret around, searching.

"Try the inferred sensors!" Molly suggests, keying in the code. Jordan also keys in the code for the turret, and hits a target that suddenly comes into view.

"Bingo!" Jordan aims for the targets as Molly spins the Arrow around.

"Watch out, Jordan, we're leaving the tunnel." Molly warns, and disengages her sensors. Jordan doesn't do so, causing Evelyn to scream.

"Jordan! That's going to fuck up your vision!" But it's too late. They've left the tunnel, and Jordan's eyes are obviously running as he rubs at them frantically.

"The Earth team has destroyed four targets,"

"I really fucking wish those damn Scrubs would stop narrating!" Evelyn smashes her fist down in frustration.

"Well, didn't see that one coming, did ya, big guy?" Jordan says.

"Rush has destroyed five." The scrubs continue. "The revised score is five for the Earth team and ten for Rush!"

Molly continues to attempt to get around Rush, to no avail. "Molly! What are you doing?! Don't let him control the race!" Wei screeches at her.

"What the hell do you think I'm doing, knitting you a sweater?!" Molly snaps.

"Great, now I'm color blind..." Jordan mumbles.

"That's your own fault, dumbass! You should have disengaged the sensors!" Evelyn says, but she's pointedly ignored.

"Molly, do me a favor, give me an edge." Jordan asks her.

"Whatever makes you happy." Molly pulls the racer onto its side. Jordan begins shooting over the edge, causing orange clouds of dust to irrupt. Hidden targets! Evelyn smiles.

"Well done, Jordan!" She calls out. Evelyn is elated, until Rush begins destroying every target ahead of them.

"The new score is 24 to 24!" Evelyn can feel the tenseness in the room get tenser. Both ships enter yet another tunnel. As they exit the other side, Evelyn realizes there aren't any more targets.

"Buckle up Jordan, we're back to racing." Molly steps on it, easily catching up to her competitor. As they burst out of the canyon for the final stretch, things get even more tense. "One more!" Evelyn can feel a pit of nervousness irrupt in her gut. "Jordan, I hope you're okay, cause I've got a real treat for you."

"I'm all over it!" Jordan says happily, taking aim at the final target. Rush again tries to block Jordan's aim, but Molly spins the Arrow to the other side of Rush's ship. Evelyn squeaks as the Arrow is flipped in the air by one of the ship's appendages. The Arrow crashes into the sand, bouncing as it goes. They hit the pole containing the target, and it flies into the air as Molly gets control of the racer. Rush narrowly misses the target as the Arrow back tracks, and Jordan hits the target dead on. They've won!

Evelyn jumps up, screaming with elation. Blue jumps up as well at Evelyn's excitement. Evelyn takes Blue's paws in her hands and dances with the dog, which is yipping happily.

"Yahoo!" Jordan exclaims.

"We won!" Molly grins.

"Yeah!" Stan chirps out.

"That was incredible!" Koji says with a smile.

Evelyn laughs as Wei collapses into his chair. "I'm getting too old for this..." He sighs.

"Well, you did the best you could to stop them but they still won the race." Rick smirks.

"The final score, the Earth Team 25, Rush 24. Earth Team wins!" Evelyn cheers again along with the crowd. Both competitors steer calmly into the arena and out, one after the other. Evelyn is eagerly waiting for Molly when she finally sets the racer down in the hanger. Both partners exit the Arrow, smiles on their faces and standing proud. Rick is the first to greet Molly, a thumbs up and a smile just for the young pilot.

"That was brilliant!" Evelyn gushes, again picking Molly up and spinning her around before setting her down once more, pulling her into a side hug. Both turn their attentions to their left at Wei's voice.

"Bravo, Jordan! You saved the day, my boy!" Wei offers one of his rare smiles as Jordan continues to run at his watery eyes. "That was excellent shooting."

"Oh, it was nothing, sir."

"Oh, come now, pull yourself together. We have more races to win." Evelyn growls quietly at his words. Wei looks over, just noticing Molly, and she looks down, her heart obviously breaking. Rick and Evelyn, taking notice, glare at Wei, Evelyn with the best glare she could muster.

"Molly, I... I must congratulate you too, it was a tough race." Wei says, half heartedly. "And you faired, eh... Beautifully."

"Thank you, sir." Molly says quietly. Evelyn squeezes her arm reassuringly. Molly pulls herself out of Evelyn's grasp and strides over to the extra two rocket seats in the corner. She seats herself on one, and starts it up. "Hop on, Jordan! A change of scenery will do us good! Let's blow this joint. And you on the other, Evelyn, since I'm positive Jordan can't pilot one to save his life." Molly grins.

"Huh?" Jordan asks, looking down from putting eyedrops in his eyes. Evelyn just strides right on over, grabbing her white sunglasses with purple lenses off her work bench where she'd left them.

"I can't breath in here." Evelyn can hear Molly mumble as she takes a seat on the other seat. She rolls her eyes at Jordan's wide grin and chuckle when he seats himself behind Molly, pulling on a pair of red goggles. Blue jumps up behind Evelyn, laying her body across the seat so she wouldn't fall off. It had taken Evelyn the longest time to teach her to do that.

Evelyn follows after as Molly speeds off.

After awhile of riding around, Evelyn pointedly ignoring Jordan's arms around Molly's thin waist, Jordan can't help but speak up. "I don't think I'm up for a long ride, Molly."

"Don't be such a baby, Jordan." Evelyn gripes, riding right next to them. Molly just ignores them as they come to a weird looking entrance thing. More fields filled with water, like rice patties.

"Besides, these fields all look the same to me." Jordan pointedly ignores Evelyn's shroud comment.

"Jordan, you really have no sense of adventure. Hang on!" Molly gasses the rocket seat, causing Jordan to scream in surprise and grab for Molly's waist again as he almost falls off, leaving a cloud of dust in her wake. Evelyn just laughs as she races after the red head. They race through the maze of paths through the fields, smiles on their faces.

"This island is filled with ruins, but they don't look like anything the Scrubs would build, do they?" Molly muses, observing the terrain around them.

"I never though about it." Jordan says, uninterested. He'd let his hands fall from Molly's waist when they'd evened out their pace.

"They don't really, if you think about it." Evelyn muses right along with Molly. Something must have captured Molly's eye, as she pulls over in front of a strange looking temple off their little track. Evelyn stops the seat, but doesn't follow further.

"I'm gonna check this one out!" Molly says happily after inspecting the temple for a few second. She glances back to the other three members of her little rag tag group. As Evelyn looks at it, a nervous pit works it's way into the bottom of her gut. Blue hops off the seat, her hackles rising as she growls at the lopsided old temple.

"What?" Jordan asks skeptically. Evelyn hops off her seat, following Blue's lead and heads up to the temple after Molly. Blue continues her snarling, refusing to get any closer to the temple than she already was, which was only half way between the road and the temple.

"Molly, I really don't think that's a good idea. I say we get out of here." Evelyn pleads as Molly begins climbing up the slick stone of the temple. She stops next to Jordan, who remains on the seat.

"Erm, Molly, for once I agree with Evy, we should start heading back. It'll be dark soon." He lifts his goggles up and looks around the strange looking temple. Molly doesn't listen, just continues to climb up the side of the temple until she gets over the edge.

"Oh, cmon! You really think Don Wei is gonna worry about us?" Molly wave down at them.

"Molly, this has nothing to do with Wei. Cmon, please. If Blue is growling, it's really a bad idea." Evelyn pleads once more. Molly ignores them both and heads into the temple. Jordan abandons the seat and begins climbing the side of the temple after Molly. Refusing to be outdone by the bafoon that is Jordan Wild, Evelyn begins climbing the side of the temple as well.

"Look! There's an opening up there!" Molly exclaims.

"Molly!" Jordan calls in exasperation.

"I'm going to regret this, this is such a bad idea..." Evelyn grumbles to herself. Blue begins barking frantically.

Once Jordan gets over the edge, he turns around and pulls Evelyn up over. Evelyn thanks him, and they both head into the temple after their friend.

"Guys, take a look at this place, it's totally amazing! You guys can get your work done later, I'm going in there." Molly says happily.

"Cmon, let's get out of here, this place gives me the creeps." Jordan pleads again as he steps into the temple.

Molly begins climbing into a tunnel. "Molly! Don't, that's a terrible-" Evelyn is cut off by a startled scream coming from Molly and the sound of crumbling stone. "Idea..."

Jordan had been right behind her, and had reached to grab her. He pulls Molly's shoe out as his prize for his attempted rescue while Molly's screams continue as she falls God knows how far.

"Molly!" Evelyn screeches, pushing Jordan out of the way to look down into the hole after Molly.

"Oof!" Evelyn hears Molly's screams cut off as more stone crumbles.

"Molly?! Are you okay?!" Evelyn screeches.

"Molly?" Jordan questions, pushing in beside Evelyn.

"Molly?" Evelyn asks in fear after a few seconds of no reply.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm gonna go check it out." Molly's voice drifts faintly.

"No! That's a horrible idea! Get back up here before I come in after you!" Evelyn screeches. She gets no reply, causing her to groan.

After a few minutes of Evelyn fuming silently, and Jordan looking on not knowing what to do, the temple begins shaking. Jordan yelps and Evelyn gasps.

"Molly, what did you do?!" Evelyn screeches as she and Jordan stumble back the way they came.

"Molly! Get out of there, it's sinking!" Jordan yells when he sees the window they were in was getting closer to the ground. Blue was still going crazy barking, pacing back and forth with her tail hocked high. Suddenly water rushes around the temple, and the three of them can hear Molly screaming. Blue's barking cuts off, causing Evelyn to turn her attention to where her beloved pet was supposed to be. Water now overtook where Blue was supposed to be standing. "Molly!" Jordan shouts, while Evelyn shouts "Blue!"

Both teens turn their attention to the sky as a shadow looms over them. Evelyn yelps as a large body lands beside her and Jordan. It's... Rush?! How can that be?! Well, they did beat him in the race today...

Rush lifts his scythe, and smashed it down into the stone, opening up a hole while Evelyn and Jordan push themselves up against the wall of the temple.

"Head for dry land! There's nothing you can do for her now." Evelyn feels anger slam into her body like hitting cement. And he could?! She growls at him, glaring daggers. As Rush jumps down into the hole he made, a rope attached to him, the two teens watch after him, one seething. When a wave sweeps over the place they are standing, Jordan grabs a hold of Evelyn, and pulls her in the water after him. She struggles, and he doesn't let go.

"Let go, damnit! I can swim perfectly fine!" Evelyn snaps, choking on water, when the water is relatively smooth. She begins searching for Blue when Jordan lets her go, and sees her attempting to get out of the water at the edge of the place they were heading. She couldn't quite get a hold, and the rough water was whipping her around. Evelyn quickens her pace, and pushes Blue out of the water while Jordan pulls himself out. Jordan pulls the heavy black dog out the rest of the way, then reaches for Evelyn, and pulls her out of the water. When all of them were safely out, albeit soaked to the bone, they turned their attention back to where Rush had disappeared, waiting with bated breath. Blue shakes herself out violently.

"Molly!" Both teens cry out. They gasp as the hitch on Rush's ship begins reeling up, bringing at least the big orange bearded alien to the surface. Evelyn was going to beat the head off him if he came up without Molly, that she swore to.

Evelyn's breath hitches as Rush surfaces, a bare footed Molly limp in his huge arms. "Molly!" Jordan calls. Blue begins whining and yipping, pacing along the water's edge as Rush slowly brings Molly to shore, dangling from his ship.

He sets Molly down, and all three of them crowd around to make sure she's still alive. Rush sets Molly's front agains his huge, broad hand, and with his other gently pats Molly's back. Evelyn shoos his hand away, and gently but firmly beats her fists against Molly's back where her lungs should be. After a few seconds of Evelyn's beats steadily getting harder, Molly coughs up a lung-full of water. Molly continues to cough a few weak coughs for a few seconds, then looks up. She sees Rush, and with a startled look, sits up, unable to pull her eyes from the big alien.

"Molly, are you alright?" Jordan asks, and Molly turns her wide eyes to him, startled. Blue laps a her cheek frantically, and Evelyn pulls Molly's back against her front as Rush let's go of her.

Molly looks back to Rush. "You saved me, but why?"

Rush stands. "I was following you," Evelyn immediately glares up at him again, defensiveness flaring up for the little group around her while Jordan leans in to them both. Blue simply jumps up on the aliens front. "To congratulate you on your victory."

There was a unanimous "huh?" Shared between all three of them as they tilted their heads, confusion bubbling up in every one of them.

Rush smiles widely, showing his strange looking teeth. "It was truly a splendid race!" The confusion grows as Rush laughs a loud, booming, joyous laugh.

"You mean you're truly happy for us? I don't understand..." Molly questions. Rush offers her a hand, and after some hesitation, she takes it and Rush pulls her to her feet. The other two humans jump to their feet and Blue sits down, looking up at Rush.

"I lost the race today, but I'll surely win tomorrow. On my planet we pride ourselves on always seeing the bright side of life." Rush lifts a finger in a matter of fact way. "My rams horn is always half full!" He bursts out in another round of joyous laughter. His ship pulls him up onto its deck. He looks down to the three humans and dog on the ground below. "Come on, I'll drive you back to your pit! You three have had enough excitement for one day."

After they get their last rocket seat loaded, and Rush brings them three of his own blankets to wrap themselves in, they begin their way back to the pits. Evelyn wrapped a blanket around Blue, Jordan took one, and Molly and Evelyn wrapped themselves in the remaining. They all sat snuggly huddled together on Rush's deck, being chilled by the passing wind as their soaked cloths had seeped water into the blankets. Jordan had quickly fallen asleep, and fell over on Blue. Blue didn't mind being used as a pillow by the boy, as that was extra warmth and protection from the wind. He was snoring loudly, and apparently he talked in his sleep as well. "Mom, I need a big hug." Came from him between his snores, and Evelyn couldn't help but glance at him. Evelyn could tell that that had bothered Molly, as she had started slightly. Molly started again as a bird's shadow passed over them. Evelyn couldn't help but start at the desperate, afraid, but small noise that came from Molly's throat as she shared up at the four winged bird.

"Hey, are you okay?" Evelyn asks quickly, her heart speeding up and skipping a beat. Molly blinks blankly at her, and glances back up at the passing bird.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Molly says after a slight hesitation. Evelyn wraps an arm around Molly's shoulders and pulls her in to her side more, leaning down to steal a kiss from Molly's lips. Molly eagerly kisses back.

"Everything will be fine. It'll all work out eventually." Evelyn lays her cheek on the top of Molly's head tiredly, listening to Rush hum to himself quietly. He did have a rather nice, enchanting hum if Evelyn had anything to say about it. It certainly is hypnotizing. Or maybe it's just her tiredness getting to her.

In no time at all, Evelyn can hear Molly's usual little snores as she sleeps and feels Molly go limp against her. She herself is fighting sleep, fighting to keep her eyes open. It doesn't much matter though, sleep overtakes her anyway without her even being aware of it. Despite her untrusting nature and fear of trusting anyone she doesn't know, she'd managed to fall asleep. Blue would never let anyone hurt any of them, maybe her being here was a little reassurance to Evelyn, and the fact that Blue didn't want to rip Rush's throat out. She was the best judge of character after all.

Blue opens her eyes to peer at the trio of humans, all of them now fast asleep. She tilts her damp ear back to listen to Rush hum, then pricks them forward at Evelyn, all without moving her head. The dog could sense something coming. That temple, there was nothing good about it. Yet no matter how much she'd tried to warn the humans, they didn't listen to her. Only Evelyn ever did, but not today, following after her mate. An uneasy feeling fills the dogs' heart. Something... Something. She didn't know what, but _something_. 

She folds her ears back in a defensive gesture, peering out at the finally waning sun, and two of the three rising moons. One exceptionally large star catches her attention, and a sense of foreboding fills her again.


End file.
